hildren, that the leader of the rite wore on
his head a kind of mitre embroidered with plumage in some manner and in
his hand a small holy-water sprinkler of wood, carved skillfully, of
which the filaments were the tails of serpents, similar to serpents with
rattles.

In spite of the importance of the serpent in the manuscripts and stone
carvings, it never seems to appear as a separate deity. With one
exception, no glyph is to be found representing this reptile as is the
case with many of the animals. Tro-Cortesianus 106c (Pl. 9, fig. 7) is
this exception showing the rattles of a snake which are found in the
line of glyphs above two of the bees. No serpent appears in the picture.

The Nahuatl day, _Couatl_, has the signification serpent, as suggested
before, in discussing the meaning of the name _Quetzalcoatl_ or
_Quetzalcouatl_. This day sign occurs throughout the Mexican
manuscripts as the head of a serpent (Pl. 8, figs. 4, 6; Pl. 9, fig. 2;
Pl. 10, figs. 2, 4-6).

IGUANA. Of the lizards represented, the iguana (Maya _hu_) is the most
striking, and is readily identified on account of the prominent spines
along the back. As noted by Stempell, there are two or three species of
large lizards in Central America commonly called iguana, and it is
probable that the one here considered is the _Ctenosaura acanthura_ of
Yucatan or _Iguana tuberculata_ of South and Central America.

In the manuscripts the iguana is almost exclusively represented as an
offering (Pl. 12, figs. 1-6). It is usually found on top of the _Kan_
sign, meaning maize or bread,[318-*] and this, in turn, resting in a
bowl (Pl. 12, figs. 3, 4, 6). Landa (1864, p. 230)[318-[+]] gives a
pleasing confirmation of this offering of an iguana with bread. It is
possible that the object shown in Tro-Cortesianus 12b (Pl. 12, fig. 13)
may be the conventionalized representation of this lizard. It must be
admitted that this interpretation is very doubtful. The triangular
points suggest the lizard, but the pointed character of the sign as a
whole in no way resembles the back of this reptile. It is found
associated with three _Kan_ signs. In Cakchiquel, a dialect of the Maya
stock, _K'an_, according to Guzman and Brinton (1893, p. 24) is the name
applied to the female of the iguana or the lizard, and this is believed
to be the original sense of the Maya term. It may also be noted that the
Nahua day sign _Cuetzpalin_, meaning lizard, is the one which
corresponds with the