[Illustration: FIG. 25. Signs for the cycle: _a-c_, Normal forms; _d-f_, head variants.] [Illustration: FIG. 26. Full-figure variant of cycle sign.] The Maya name for the period of the 5th order in Table VIII is unknown. It has been called "the cycle," however, by Maya students, and in default of its true designation, this name has been generally adopted. The normal form of the cycle glyph is shown in figure 25, _a_, _b_, c. It is composed of an element which appears twice over a knotted support. The repeated element occurs also in the signs for the months Chen, Yax, Zac, and Ceh (see figs. 19, _o-v_, 20, _l-p_). This has been called the _Cauac_ element because it is similar to the sign for the day Cauac in the codices (fig. 17, _b'_), though on rather inadequate grounds the writer is inclined to believe. The head variant of the cycle glyph is shown in figure 25, _d-f_. The essential characteristic of this grotesque head with its long beak is the hand element (), which forms the lower jaw, though in a _very few instances_ even this is absent. In the full-figure forms this same head is joined to the body of a bird (see fig. 26). The bird intended is clearly a parrot, the feet, claws, and beak being portrayed in a very realistic manner. No glyph for the cycle has yet been found in the codices. THE KATUN GLYPH [Illustration: FIG. 27. Signs for the katun: _a-d_, Normal forms; _e-h_, head variants.] [Illustration: FIG. 28. Full-figure variant of katun sign.] The period of the 4th place or order was called by the Maya the _katun_; that is to say, 20 tuns, since it contained 20 units of the 3d {69} order (see Table VIII). The normal form of the katun glyph is shown in figure 27, _a-d_. It is composed of the normal form of the tun sign (fig. 29, _a_, _b_) surmounted by the pair of comblike appendages, which we have elsewhere seen meant 20, and which were probably derived from the representation of a fish. The whole glyph thus graphically portrays the concept 20 tuns, which according to Table VIII is equal to 1 katun. The normal form of the katun glyph in the codices (fig. 27, _c_, _d_) is identical with the normal form in the inscriptions (fig. 27, _a_, _b_). Several head variants are found. The most easily recognized, though not the most common, is shown in figure 27, _e_, in which the superfix is the same as in the normal form; that is, the element (), which probably signifies 20 in this connection. To be logical, therefore, the head element should be the same as the head variant of the tun glyph, but this is not the case (see fig. 29, _e-h_). When this superfix is present, the identification of the head variant of the katun glyph is an easy matter, but when it is absent it is difficult to fix on any essential characteristic. The general shape of the head is like the head variant of the cycle glyph. Perhaps the oval () in the top of the head in figure 27, _f_-_h_, and the small curling fang (++) represented as