[Various (1967)] No. 39, March 1967 5 were used as shaft material, and when we find the dowel or tendon stem what we find is the use of reed shafts rather than any stylistic features. Intermediate, hybrid and, possibly, specialized forms are not the only reasons why there will be many points in a site collection of significant number that may be assigned with more confidence to the tradition than to a phase. A projectile point is a utilitarian artifact, an assemblage of wanted characteristics; the point is wanted for penetration, the blade for wound-making, the shank for joining the point to the shaft, and a certain size-weight to insure the proper ballistic performance of the total projectile since, as Mau (1963) has shown the efficiency of the total missile depends on the weight balance of the component parts. Wherefore, when a point maker has worked out his assemblage of wanted characteristics, according to the tradition he is working in, he will have a serviceable point, but it will not always be the most stylish, the most symmetric, or the most "typical." Personal skill, the suitableness of the material, and the time available for manufacture are factors in artifact production; and a stylistic "erratic" may result from hurry or indifferent workmanship or flawed materials which will be just as useful as the shapeliest specimen. The Taconic tradition, it would seem, rather turns to the production of erratics for another reason.