In another place the writer has described the conception of the power of the whirlwind among some of the Dakota, but wishes at this time to refer to it again because of its relation to their system of protective designs.[17] As stated in the former publication, there seems to be in the minds of some of the Dakota an association between the phenomenon of the whirlwind and those mental states generally known as “confusion of mind.” Some of them believed and still believe that the power in the whirlwind can be invoked to confuse the mind of an enemy. In common with many other American tribes, the Dakota believe the whirlwind to be associated with the fluttering wings of a moth, but they also associate this with the cocoon of the same moth; and in symbolic representation the design representing the power of the whirlwind is of an elongated diamond-shape, and refers to the cocoon. The protection or aid of the whirlwind was secured by prayers, and these prayers were symbolized by the cocoon worn upon the person, by its image in stuffed buckskin, or by its graphic representation, sketched or painted. The power of the whirlwind was supposed to have been associated with the power of the spider-web. As an illustration of this, we find engraved upon a German-silver cross (Fig. 18) the spider, and near it three representations of the whirlwind cocoon. Between the spider and these three designs is a zigzag line, implying the mystic power connection of the same. Again, on a forked bone object (Fig. 19), the use of which is unknown, occur a number of incised designs, among which is again what seems to be the spider-web, the tracks of a quadruped (probably the buffalo), and four designs representing the whirlwind cocoon, accompanied in each case by another design which cannot be determined, but which resembles the footprints of a person. It is interesting to note that the German-silver cross also bears the tracks of the buffalo, or some ruminant animal, in association with the spider. In the absence of direct information, the writer hesitates to offer any interpretation of the design upon these specimens, although he feels that they could be interpreted with reasonable certainty. The design of the whirlwind resembles a feather-design, and no doubt the two are often confused. The difference seems to be, that, when representing the whirlwind, half of the design is filled with parallel or crossing lines; while, when representing feathers, half of the design is filled in with color (see Fig. 19). The feather-design is more fixed in form than that of the whirlwind. Fig. 20 is a representation of the latter, from the handle of a club, where it appears in a series with the spider, lizard, elk, and turtle. Another form of the same design is repeated in a series on a wooden popgun (Fig. 21).