The derivation of the fret and scroll--most admired of the decorative motives of numerous races--has been a fruitful source of discussion. The vase painting of Chiriqui serves to throw new light upon the subject. We learn by the series of steps illustrated in the annexed cuts that the alligator radical, under peculiar restraints and influences, assumes conventional forms that merge imperceptibly into these classic devices. In the third series given (Fig. 279) the first figure is far removed from the realistic stage of representation, but it is one of the ordinary conventional guises of the alligator. Other still more conventional forms are seen in the three succeeding figures, the last of which is a typical rectangular fret link known and used by most nations of moderate culture. The derivatives in nearly all the preceding figures can be traced back to the body of the creature as a root, but there are many examples which seem to have come from the delineation of a part of the creature, as the head, foot, eye, or scales--abbreviated representatives of the whole creature. Such parts, assuming the role of radicals, pass also through a series of modifications, ending in purely geometric devices in the manner indicated in the following or fourth series of examples (Fig. 280). In the first cut we have what appears to be the leg and foot of the favorite reptile, and following this are other forms that seem to refer to the same feature. Additional examples are shown in Figs. 281 and 282, which, while they doubtless arose more or less directly from the life form, are not so readily traceable through less conventional antecedents. The first forms part of the incised ornament of a small vase or needlecase and the second is a section of the zonal ornament of the tripod cup illustrated in Fig. 203, by reference to which it will be seen that the zone of devices serves to connect the head and the tail of the reptile, which are modeled as a part of the vase; the devices therefore represent the markings of the creature’s body, although they may originally have been derived from the figure of the whole or a part of the animal rather than from the markings of the skin. In other examples still more highly conventional figures are found to hold the same relation to the plastic representation of the extremities of the creature. They include the meander, the scroll, the fret, and the guilloche. We find that in the stone metates of many parts of Central America, nearly all of which are carved to imitate the puma, the head and tail of the creature are connected by bands of similar devices that encircle the margin of the mealing plate (see Fig. 9). The alligator form is therefore not necessarily the originator of all such devices. It is probable that any animal form extensively used by such lovers of decoration as the ancient inhabitants of Central America would be found thus interwoven with decoration. These considerations will serve to widen our views upon the