Thanks for the comments, guys.
I know these are original cause I've had the car for 14 years.
I think they are little mufflers as you said; the outlet end of the
"funnel" is big enought to slide a 1" hose through, so even if there were some kind of converter material behind the holes in the funnel, the effect would be minimal. I couldn't see anything behind the holes, 'course after 15 years, if it was a packing material, it's probably moved downstream and clogged the main cat. (nah)
Speaking of cat light-off, the old car almost failed the sniffer test this year - the wife drove it in cold. So with the only cat being several feet below the mainfold, I can assume the secret to passing emissions is to drive that puppy hard and get that cat really warmed up before they test it.