ground, brought to light six circular, oven-shaped vaults, each about 3 feet in diameter and the same in depth. As these six were so placed as to form a semicircle, it is presumed there are others under that portion of the mound not reached by the excavation. All were filled with dry, dark dust or decayed substances, supposed to be the remains of Indian corn in the ear, as it was similar to that heretofore mentioned. In the center of the circle indicated by the positions of these minor vaults, and the supposed center of the base of the mound (the shaft not being exactly central), and but 2 feet below the floor of the main vault, and in a fine mortar or cement, were found two cavities resembling in form the bottle or gourd shaped vessel so frequently met with in the mounds of southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas. Unfortunately the further investigation of this work was stopped at this stage of progress by cold weather. In another mound of this group the burial was in a box-shaped stone vault, not of slabs in the usual method, but built up of rough, angular stones. [Illustration: FIG. 24.--Mound with so-called "altar," Kanawha County, West Virginia.] Mound 31 of this group seems to furnish a connecting link between the West Virginia and the Ohio mounds. It is sharp in outline, has a steep slope, and is flattened on the top; is 318 feet in circumference at the base and about 25 feet high. It was opened by digging a shaft 10 feet in diameter from the center of the top to the base. After passing through the top layer of surface soil, some 2 feet thick, a layer of clay and ashes 1 foot thick was encountered. Here, near the center of the shaft, were two skeletons, lying horizontally, one immediately over the other, the upper and larger one with the face down and the lower with the face up. There were no indications of fire about them. Immediately over the heads were one celt and three lance-heads. At the depth of 13 feet and a little north of the center of the mound were two very large skeletons, in a sitting posture, with their extended legs interlocked to the knees. Their arms were extended and their hands slightly elevated, as if together holding up a sandstone mortar which was between their faces. This stone is somewhat hemispherical, about 2 feet in diameter across the top, which is hollowed in the shape of a shallow basin or mortar. It had been subjected to the action of fire until burned to a bright red. The cavity was filled with white ashes, containing small fragments of bones burned to cinders. Immediately over this, and of sufficient size to cover it, was a slab of bluish-gray limestone about 3 inches thick, which had small cup-shaped excavations on the under side. This bore no marks of fire. Near the hands of the eastern skeleton were a small hematite celt and a lance-head, and upon the left wrist of the other two copper bracelets. At the depth of 25 feet, and on the natural surface,