The more important plastic decorations consist of animal forms modeled in the round. Vegetable forms have not been employed. Fillets of clay imitating twisted cords are sparingly used in the decoration of necks and handles, and rows and groups of small nodes are similarly employed. The human figure is always treated in a conventional and usually in a grotesque manner. The animals imitated include a very large number of species. Crocodiles, pumas, armadillos, monkeys, crabs, lizards, scorpions, frogs, and fish appear very frequently. Many of the animals, owing to conventional treatment or to carelessness on the part of the modeler, are difficult of identification. These plastic forms occur in nearly all the groups of ware, and similar forms are found to a limited extent in gold, copper, and stone, as will be seen by reference to the illustrations already given. Their study will, I believe, give some insight into the mental characteristics of the Chiriquians. That their art, so far as these figures are concerned, was not serious is indicated by the sketchy, unsystematic nature of the work, and more especially by the grotesque and occasionally amusing representation of men and animals. The figures are usually placed upon the shoulder of the vessel or are attached to the legs and handles or form part of them. The favorite subjects are doleful little figures, human or partly so, fixed upon the vessel in a sitting posture, with legs and arms doubled up, and with expressions which appear to indicate a variety of exaggerated emotions (Figs. 54, 55, 56). [Illustration: Fig. 54. Fig. 55. Fig. 56. Grotesque figures forming the handles of small vases--terra cotta group.] [Illustration: Fig. 57. Fig. 58. Monstrous figures, with serpent-shaped extremities--handled group.] [Illustration: Fig. 59. Fig. 60. Fig. 61. Grotesque figures--terra cotta group.] [Illustration: Fig. 62. Figure of monkey--terra cotta group] [Illustration: Fig. 63. Fig. 64. Figures of monkeys--terra cotta group.]