In shape discoidal beads range from the concavo-convex sections of the curved walls of the shell to totally artificial outlines, in such forms as doubly-convex disks, cylinders, and spheroids. In size the disks vary from very minute forms, one-tenth of an inch in diameter and one-thirtieth of an inch in thickness, to two inches in diameter and nearly one-half an inch in thickness. The thickness of the finished beads is governed in a great measure by the thickness of the shell from which they are manufactured. The _Venus mercenaria_ of the Atlantic coast and the heavier _Unios_ of the Mississippi Valley give a general thickness of from one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch, while others, such as the heavy clams of the Pacific, are very much thicker. The walls of univalves, especially near the base, are often extremely heavy, while the smaller varieties of shells furnish specimens of wafer-like thinness. In Plate XXXIII a series of beads of this class is given, beginning with the smaller disks and ending with those of large, though not the largest, size. In Fig. 1 I present two views of a minute disk, obtained, with many others of similar shape and size, from a mound on Lick Creek, Tenn. The perforations in these specimens, as well as in most of those that follow, are bi-conical, and sufficiently irregular in form to indicate that they are hand-made. Beads of this general appearance have been found in a multitude of graves and mounds, distributed over a large part of North as well as of South America. A vast majority of these beads are doubtless of aboriginal make, as they are found in the oldest mounds. Fig. 2 represents a minute form from Santa Cruz Island, Cal. The peripheral surface is ornamented with a net-work of incised lines. Fig. 3 illustrates a small cylindrical bead, with large perforation, from a mound near Prairie du Chien, Wis. It was found, with a number of others, near the neck of the skeleton of a child. Fig. 4 represents a small spheroidal bead from the great mound near Sevierville, Tenn.; it is neatly made and well preserved. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate specimens of roughly finished concavo-convex disks, much used by both ancient and modern tribes of California, Arizona, and New Mexico. I essayed at one time to purchase a long necklace of these homely ornaments from a Navajo Indian in Arizona, but soon discovered that it was beyond my reach, as my best mule was hardly considered a fair exchange for it. These beads are made from the _Oliva_ chiefly, but to some extent from small bivalves. This bead is not common in the mounds of the Mississippi Valley, but is used by many modern savages. It seems to be the form called, by the Indians of Virginia, "roenoke," which, according to Beverly, is made of the cockle-shell, broken into small bits, with rough edges, and drilled through in the same manner as beads.