of a purplish color; remarkable both for the absence of animal matter and for the presence of the acid phosphate of lime. Unfortunately, no analysis of these changed bones is given.

TABLE No. 1.—The plan of this table is taken from Foster's work on the prehistoric races of the United States, and the letters at the heads of the columns refer to the same measurements. Four other columns are, however, added, the first giving the capacities in cubic inches; an important point omitted by Foster, probably from the fragmentary nature of the skulls in his possession. The second and third added columns give the distance of the occipital protuberance from the posterior margin of the foramen magnum and the ratio of this distance to the long diameter of the skull. This is an important characteristic of the mound. builder race, according to Dr. Wyman.

The fourth and last column gives the major and minor axes of the foramen magnum in millimeters.

I. Capacity approximate, from imperfection. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.60 to 0.625. II. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.846 to 0.784

III. Skull, thick and heavy, from former disease. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.833 to 0.772. IV. Ratio of short and long diameters, 1 to 0.933.

V. Aged-molars all gone and alveoli absorbed. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.848 to 0.757. VI. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.923 to 0.923. VII. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.718 to 0.718. VIII. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.771 to 0.715. IX. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.685 to 0.732. X. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.836 to 0.761. XI. Ratio of short and long diameters, 0.725 to 0,725.

*A. The horizontal circumference in the plane of a line joining the glabella with the occipital pro

tuberance.

*B. The longitudinal arc from the nasal depression along the middle line of the skull to the occipital tuberosity. *C. From the level of the glabello-occipital line on each side, across the middle of the sagittal suture to the same point on the opposite side.

D. The vertical height from the glabello-occipital line.

*E. The extreme longitudinal measurement.

*F. The extreme transverse measurement.

TABLE NO. 2.-In this table an attempt is made (by means of another table of the comparative lengths of the various long bones in a series of skeletons, given in Orfila's Exhumations Juridiques) to arrive at

some idea of the stature of the mound-builders, but the conclusions are very imperfect, perhaps necessarily so. Enough was learned, however, to safely warrant the conclusion that none of the bones examined be. longed to an individual much, if any, higher than six feet, thus doing away with the assumption, made by some persons at the time of the exhumation, that some of the mound-builders were giants.

TABLE NO. 2.-Stature estimated from length of bones.

1. The total length of the body is made out by adding two inches to that of the skeleton. 2. These diameters, taken near the middle of the length of the tibia, and at its most prominent part, show its flatness and the comparative sharpness of the shin-bones.

3. From an average of five skeletons in the table having a humerus measuring 33 centimeters. Here it may be remarked that in the French table there is a greater disparity in the height of the skeleton, in regard to the humerus, than either to the femur or tibia, one skeleton of 1.86 meters having a humerus of only 33 centimeters.

The skulls and long bones of the modern Indians used in the comparative measurements in these tables, were those of male Sioux Indians from Minnesota, who died in this vicinity, while in captivity on account of their complicity with the massacre in that State, so that there can be no doubt of their identity.

It only remains to remark, in conclusion, that an unusual number of perfect sets of teeth were found in the mounds examined. These teeth are invariably without any signs of decay, of almost flinty hardness, and very much worn away, apparently from the attrition of very hard particles in the food, probably the siliceous outer coats of some kind of grain or seeds.

THE SHELL-BED SKULL.

By A. S. TIFFANY, OF DAVENPORT, IOWA.

On the Rock Island arsenal-grounds, near the western extremity of the island, there had been an excavation about three hundred feet long and eight feet deep. At a depth of three feet from the top there was a deposit of shells, mostly unios, but including melantho subsolida, and two or more species of helix. This shell-bed at this exposure varies from six to sixteen inches thick.

In this deposit the skull and bones belonging to one individual were found; all the covering was an aqueous sedimeut. Deposited with and above the shells are lime, gravel, and sand, the material becoming finer toward the top, the last foot being fine alluvium and vegetablemold. The sedimentary lines were perfect and unbroken, and the excavation had made the means of observation all that could be desired.

It was visited by many members of our academy, and by Prof. Alexander Winchell, while some of the bones were in place; and all agree that the covering to this pre-historic man was put on by sedimentary deposit.

Accurate levelings prove the top of this deposit to be eighteen feet above the highest water known since Fort Armstrong was established on the island.

ANTIQUITIES OF NORTHERN OHIO.

BY GEO. W. HILL, M. D., OF ASHLAND, OHIO.

In the spring of 1872, Mr. S. W. Briggs, a farmer of Sullivan Township, Ashland County, while plowing an old "cat-swamp" or slough, came upon a bed or nest of Indian flint-implements about eighteen inches beneath the surface. His attention was arrested by a grating sound beneath the plow, and on examination found two or three peculiarly-shaped arrow-heads or flint cutting-points. Hastening to his house, he procured a shovel and mattock, and proceeded to unearth the deposit. On carefully removing the surrounding soil-rich black mold-he found a keg-like vessel of red-elm (Ulmus rubra) bark, about three-fourths of an inch in thickness, some ten or twelve in diameter, and about thirteen in height. The vessel was a section of the bark, which had been removed from the tree by cutting or notching around the body and then peeling it off. It would hold something over one peck. It was in a tolerable state of preservation. It contained two hundred and one flint-implements, neatly and symmetrically finished, and a number of fragments which had not been dressed. The bottom of the nest was about two feet below the surface. About four feet south of the vessel his plow struck a forked oak-stake, the double end being deep in the mold, and also another stake, of the same timber, about four feet east of the deposit, driven deeply into the loam. The lower ends of the stakes were over three feet deep, the parts above the water and ground having decayed were wanting. In digging down, the forks were found to be beneath the surface soil and quite sound. There was also a streak of yellow sand about ten inches wide, two or three deep, and eight or ten feet long, running in a northeastern direction from the deposit, which could have been plainly seen when the water stood over the slough. This sand is found on the banks of Black River, about one and a half miles distant. The slough was drained some ten years since, and has been once or

twice superficially plowed. The sand-streak was evidently put there to mark the precise point of the deposit.

Sixty years ago, when the first of the pioneers began to settle in the central parts of Ashland County, the northern section was a favorite resort of the Delawares and Wyandots as a hunting-ground. About twenty-five rods southwest of the slough are the remains of an Indian village or camping-ground. Floors of broken bowlders and large pebbles were made by driving the pieces into the ground until a smooth surface was obtained. Ahout one hundred rods in a northeastern direction from the deposit is another "cat-swamp" or slough, somewhat smaller than the first, which will probably, upon examination, be found to contain other deposits. A few rods east of this were also found two stone floors, constructed of the same materials and in the same manner as the other. They were twelve or fifteen feet in circuit each, and had to be dug up before the ground could be plowed. About one mile southeast of this ancient village was a salt-spring, which was a common resort for the Indians and wild animals. Many relics have been dug and plowed up in its vicinity, among which was a large pair of elkhorns. Above this, on the flat, near the head branch of Black River, were several extensive beaver-dams. They were visible for many years after the settlement of that region.

In 1755-56, James Smith, when a captive among the Wyandots and Delawares, on his way to the Canesadooharie, in company with his adopted brother, Tontileaugo, passed this locality. He had traversed the Jerome Fork of Mohican to its source, about three miles from the head of the Canesadooharie, or Black River, and over the portage or divide between the streams running south to the Gulf of Mexico and north to Lake Erie. At that time there was a large Wyandot village near the falls, not a great distance from the present site of Elyria, in Lorain County. The Black River and its sources long furnished a hunting-resort for the Ohio tribes, and the locality where these implements were found was often a great encampment for the Indians.

There is a striking resemblance to each other in the implements found by Mr. Briggs. They are generally leaf or pear shaped. They are about three-eighths of an inch in thickness. The width of the largest is two and three-quarter inches, and its length three and one-quarter inches. The next largest is two and one-quarter inches wide, and four inches long, running to a sharp point. They are all quite sharp around the edge, and neatly and symmetrically chipped, and would answer for cutting-tools.

It is difficult to determine their use. They certainly were not used as arrow-heads, being destitute of nicks to attach them to the shaft. They are too small for agricultural instruments. They could not be used for preparing dug-out canoes, being sharp around their edges, and too fragile. They may have been used for skinning and cutting the flesh of animals. Possibly they were used in dressing deer-skins. The entire lot was new,

and looked as if they had been finished just prior to the deposit. So far as my observation extends, no flints of similar character have been found on the surface in this part of Ohio.

The material out of which these instruments were constructed is found in abundance about eighty miles south of the Black River, and is known as the "Flint Ridge," in Licking County, and consists, after exposure, of a reddish, mottled flint, and, when fresh from the quarry, of a bluish, or nearly black, color. The reddish tint may have originated from their burial beneath the bog or marsh water. When a boy, some thirty-five years since, I resided a short distance south of the main ridge, in Licking County. On the farm where I lived there had eridently been large numbers of arrow-heads manufactured, judging from the piles of fragments, broken arrows, and pieces of lances found on the surface. Many of these were composed of a bluish limestone, found in and north of the ridge, where numerous pits yet remain. When first quarried, the stone splits easily, and is soft, but, on exposure to the air and sun, changes color, and becomes extremely hard. There is also a fliut, or hornstone, found on or near the surface in that locality, which is of a dark color, sometimes streaked or mottled with white, from which large numbers of arrows have been manufactured, and are found scattered all over Ohio.

These implements were probably made by the earlier Indians of Ohio. It is not unlikely that they were carried there for immediate use. Their form, sharpness of fracture, and shape are so symmetrical and complete, that we are led to conclude they are finished. If they had been intended for further manipulation, their finish would have been less perfect. When Smith was on this stream in 1755, bark canoes were exclusively used by the Wyandots and Delawares.

Some of the spear-heads are very rare. Five were picked up near Ashland. I call them spear-heads, though it is uncertain for what purpose they were used. They are generally well finished, and have been used. Some of them are of an unknown flint. I have never seen the blueish kind in the "Flint Ridge" material. The first is intensely black; the second, of a brownish black; the third, on being fractured, presents a blue color; the fourth is a drab, or sort of dirty white, and is very delicate in structure, and extremely sharp; the fifth, on being fractured, exhibits a blue color, and is peculiar in shape.

A singular instrument was picked up by Mr. Briggs in the neighborhood of the nest of flint-implements. It is made out of a sort of greenish-gray stone, variegated. It possesses a high polish, and the material is quite hard. A hole in the center is neatly drilled. It may have been suspended from the neck as an ornament.