The Maya dictionaries supply us with the clue to the meaning attached to the beard in pictorial art. The word for beard is meex and for “bearded man,” ah-meex, or ah-meexnal, if the beard was long. On the other hand, ah-mek-tancal is the Maya name for “governor and ruler of people or of a town,” and ah-mektanpixan means high priest. The first two syllables of these titles, being identical with the word for a “bearded man,” seem to explain the reason for the association of rank with a beard, and _vice versa_. Added to preceding data it aids in forming the conclusion that the bearded personages on the stelæ were “high-priests or rulers of people and of towns,” that the beard or goatee was the mark of supreme rank and that artificial ones were sometimes worn. The beardless effigies, on the other hand, obviously represent individuals belonging to a different caste; and the fact that stelæ exist at Copan and Quirigua on which two figures are carved, back to back, proves that the assignment of the effigies of the two types to separate sides of the courts was preceded by a time when a closer unity prevailed between the dual rulers. The existence of stelæ with female figures proves that here, as well as in Mexico and Peru, there had been a period when “the Below and the cult of the Earth-mother were presided over by a woman.” On each side of the great Stela F is carved the initial followed by 6×6=36 glyphs, which fact seems to indicate that six glyphs pertained to each of the six regions and recorded facts relating thereunto. On the sides of Stela F, each initial is followed by 34 glyphs only, the count being shorter than that of Stela E by 2×2=4. One side of Stela C exhibits the initial followed by 2×13 glyphs grouped in parallel lines, then a horizontal band with 4 glyphs; the other side the initial followed by 4×6=24 and a group of 4 glyphs. Stela D is particularly remarkable on account of the six squares of pictorial glyphs which follow the “Initial” which, in this case, exhibits the head and body of a jaguar in its centre. I refer to Mr. Maudslay’s interesting conclusion that these pictorial glyphs preceded, in date, the more cursive method of representing the initial series. In consequence of this jaguar initial, Stela A becomes particularly noticeable, because one of the personages upon it has a beard, whilst the other is masked as an ocelot or jaguar.