own as
forming the sides of the Great Cycle glyph at the beginning of an
Initial Series (Pl. 6, figs. 14-17). It has often been suggested that as
the word fish in Maya is _kai_ (usually written _cay_), there may be
some phonetic significance here, combining the fish, _kai_, with the
usually drum-like sign for stone, _tun_, making _kai tun_ or _katun_.
This is the term usually given not to the Great Cycle but to the period
composed of twenty _tuns_ and is probably derived from _kal_ meaning
twenty and _tun_, a stone.

AMPHIBIA

FROGS. Figures undoubtedly representing frogs (Maya _mut[vs]_ or _uo_)
or toads are found in several places in the codices and in the stone
carvings, but it is quite impossible to refer them definitely to any of
the numerous species occurring in Central America, if, indeed, the
artists had any one species in mind. In the Tro-Cortesianus frogs are
not uncommon. In 31a there are four (Pl. 7, fig. 1) with water coming
from their mouths. They are characterized by their stout tailless
bodies, flattened heads and toothless mouths. In 101d (Pl. 7, figs. 2,
3) there are two, the first painted blue with spots of darker blue and
the second white and represented as broken in two in the middle. The
signs of death above the latter clearly show that a dead animal is
indicated. Pl. 7, fig. 6, shows the end of Altar O from Copan on which a
frog and a fish are pictured, the former in dorsal view, the latter in
lateral aspect. The peculiar pointed snout of this frog is similar to
that of the frog shown in Pl. 7, fig. 7, also in dorsal view. A somewhat
similar creature (Pl. 29, fig. 6) we have included and though it may
represent an opossum it has little to distinguish it from the figures of
frogs.[309-*]

God B in Tro-Cortesianus 12b should be associated with the frog. His
legs are those of a frog and he appears as if swimming in the water.
Frog in Maya is _Uo_ which is also the name of the second month of the
Maya year. The first day of this month, according to Landa, corresponds
to August 5 of our year and this is the height of the rainy season in
the Maya region. The sign for _Uo_ does not, however, resemble a frog in
any way. The frog above one of the figures in the Lower Chamber of the
Temple of the Tigers at Chichen Itza (Pl. 7, fig. 7) has clearly some
relation to the name or totem of the warrior. The Nahua custom is seen
here.

Toads are probably intended in Pl. 7, figs. 4, 5. In these the great
bre