. 5), another coiled
ready to strike though the rattle is pictured trailing on the ground
instead of being held erect in the center of the coil as usually is done
(Pl. 9, fig. 9). A rattlesnake is shown held in the hand of a man in Pl.
9, fig. 8.

In Pl. 10, fig. 1, is shown a rattle-less snake with prominent fang,
coiled about the top of an altar which may represent a tree or bush.
From the latter fact, it might be concluded that it was a tree or
bush-inhabiting species, possibly the deadly "bush-master" (_Lachesis
lanceolatus_). Other figures (Pl. 10, figs. 3, 7; Pl. 11, figs. 1, 2)
are introduced here as examples of the curious head ornamentation
frequently found in the drawings. The two first are merely serpents with
the jaws extended to the utmost, and with a characteristic head
decoration. The last is provided with an elaborate crest. The size and
markings of the two serpents shown in Pl. 11, as well as their want of
rattles suggest that they may represent some species of large _Boidae_
as _Loxocemus bicolor_ or _Boa_ (sp?).

After having commented upon the various serpents occurring in the
codices and in several other places, we will now take up the manner and
connection in which the various figures occur. We shall pass over
completely the use of the "serpent column" at Chichen Itza, the
importance of the serpent motive in the development of the masked panel
as worked out by Spinden, and the countless representations of the
plumed serpent in the whole field of Maya design and decoration. In the
single Temple of the Tigers at Chichen Itza, the feathered serpent
occurs in the round as a column decoration supporting the portico, as
carved on the wooden lintel at the entrance to the Painted Chamber,
again and again on the frescoes of this room,[313-*] in the Lower
Chamber as dividing the bas-relief into zones or panels, and, finally,
as the center of the whole composition of this bas-relief. It will be
seen, therefore, that it will be necessary in a short paper, to limit
ourselves to the representations of the serpent in the Maya codices.

The serpent is most frequently associated with god B. Schellhas (1904,
p. 17), Fewkes (1894), Foerstemann (1906), and Thomas (1882), seem to
agree that god B is to be identified as _Kukulcan_, the most important
of the deities of the Mayas and, as pointed out before, appearing in the
Nahua mythology, as _Quetzalcoatl_, and in the Quiche myths as
_Gucumatz_. It was also noted tha