ay indicate the dance in which dogs were
carried as noted by Landa. Cogolludo (1688, p. 184)[361-Sec.] also mentions
a similar dance. Still another reference in Landa (1864, p. 260)[362-*]
mentions that in the months _Muan_ and _Pax_ dogs were sacrificed to the
deities.

Reference has already been made to the identification of the four
priests at the top of Dresden 25-28 as having the heads of dogs rather
than of opossums. It may be suggested that in the role of the conductor
to the other world the dog is represented as carrying on his back in
each case the year which has just been completed and therefore is dead.
This, of course, would necessitate the identification of god B, the
jaguar, god E, and god A as representing in turn the four years.

The dog, according to Sahagun's account (p. 360) was looked upon as the
"Fire God's animal," and as an emblem of fire. This idea is seen
frequently in the Maya manuscripts where the dog with firebrands in his
paws or attached to his tail is coming head downward from a line of
constellation signs, as in Dresden 36a (Pl. 37, fig. 3), 40b (Pl. 37,
fig. 1) or is standing beneath similar signs as in Dresden 39a (Pl. 37,
fig. 2) and probably in Tro-Cortesianus 13a. His tail alone has the
firebrand in Tro-Cortesianus 36b. Firebrands are carried by figures
which have been identified by us as dogs in Tro-Cortesianus 24c (Pl. 37,
fig. 6), 25c, and 90a. Here the animal is represented as in the air
holding his firebrands over a blazing altar beside which god F is
seated. In two out of the four cases, F is shown as dead. The dog in
these latter examples has his eye composed of the _Akbal_ sign. This
same glyph can also be made out with difficulty on the forehead of the
dog shown in Dresden 36a (Pl. 37, fig. 3). As has been noted, _Akbal_
means night and possibly death as well. It is certain that destruction
is indicated in the preceding examples as well as in Tro-Cortesianus 87a
and 88a (Pl. 37, fig. 4) where the dog is holding four human figures by
the hair.

Beyer (1908, pp. 419-422) has identified the dog as the Pleiades and
various other suggestions have been made that the dog represents some
constellation. The more common form of spotted dog is shown as a single
_tonalamatl_ figure in Tro-Cortesianus 25d and 27d (Pl. 36, fig. 14) and
an unspotted variety in Dresden 7a (Pl. 37, fig. 10). The dog is
frequently shown as copulating with another animal or with a female
figure. In Dresden