. Bulletin of the Essex Institute. Essex Institute; Natural history; genealogy. 157 It is of general uniform thickness, about one-fifth of an inch, except where the angles are slightly rounded off on the front of the head and on the abdominal outline, and the portion representing the forked tail, or caudal fin, which is rapidly and symmetrically thinned to its edges, as is the notched portion representing the dorsal fin. The carving was evidently intended to represent a fish, with some peculiar ideas of the artist added and several important characters left out. The three longitudinal grooves
. Bulletin of the Essex Institute. Essex Institute; Natural history; genealogy. 157 It is of general uniform thickness, about one-fifth of an inch, except where the angles are slightly rounded off on the front of the head and on the abdominal outline, and the portion representing the forked tail, or caudal fin, which is rapidly and symmetrically thinned to its edges, as is the notched portion representing the dorsal fin. The carving was evidently intended to represent a fish, with some peculiar ideas of the artist added and several important characters left out. The three longitudinal grooves in front represent the mouth and jaws, while the transverse groove at their termination gives a limit to the length of the jaw, and a very decided groove on the under side di- Fig. 5. vides the under jaw into its right and left portions. The eyes are rep- resented as slight depressions at the top of the head. Natural size. The head is separated from the abdominal portion by a decided groove, and the caudal fin is well represented by the forked portion, from the centre of which the rounded termination of the whole projects. In this part there is an irregularly made hole of a size large enough to allow a strong cord to pass through for the purpose of suspen- sion. The portion of the sculpture rising in the place of a dorsal fin is in several ways a singular conception of the ancient carver. While holding the position of a dorsal fin, it points the wrong way, if Ave regard the portion looking so much like a shark's tooth as intended to rep- resent the fin as a whole. It is very likely that the de- signer wished to show that the fin was not connected with the head and, as he was confined by the length of the. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Essex Institute. 1n. Salem, Mass. , Essex Institute
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