seeming rarity, the Chinese made quite perfect imitations of the shell 

 with rice. Specimens may now be purchased for a dollar or two each. 



''The helmet, or cameo shells, are among the largest of sea snails, 

 some of the specimens measuring eight or ten inches in length and 

 weighing several pounds. They live only in comparatively shallow 

 water, on sandy bottoms of tropical or subtropical seas ; they are vora- 

 cious eaters, living principally upon bivalve mollusks. The animal is 

 large, and is remarkable for the extreme length of its proboscis. 



u Cameos are frequently quite popular, both as ornaments for the 

 person and as articles of bric-a-brac. Many o f the be?t shell cameos 

 are made from the helmet shells, wLic.. ;-,re weL. aJuvpted to this 



p. pose, owing to the 

 cV Cerent colored layers 

 o- the shell and their 

 various degrees of hard- 

 ness, making a bas- 

 relief figure not only 

 possible, but very effect- 

 ive. The word cameo is 

 from the Arabic, and 

 means anything in bas- 

 relief. The name was 

 once restricted to stone 

 reliefs, but it now in- 

 cludes anything cut from 

 stones or shells. The 

 black helmet shell, 

 Cassis tuberosa, is most 

 frequently used, the 

 figure being carved 

 upon the white outer 

 layer of the shell, which 

 stands very clearly 

 against the black back- 

 ground of the second 

 layer. When a cameo is 

 desired simply as a brooch, or for any other form of personal adorn- 

 ment, a piece of the shell is cut out and shaped into the required 

 form and size, and cemented to a block of wood. The figure is then 

 traced on the shell with a pencil, and finally worked out carefully 

 with sharp pointed steel instruments of delicate size and form. The 



116 



Sardonyx helmet shell (Cassis tuberosa) with portrait of 

 Columbus cut in bas-relief. Carved by E. Campi, of 

 Rome, one of the foremost artists of cameo work. (Kunz, 

 Bull. Fish. Com., 1893.) 



