island tribes, who permit no one but themselves and their sub-chiefs 

 to wear them. We may truly say that of all the mollusks, large or 

 small, handsome or ugly, the modest little money cowry surpasses any 

 in point of economic importance. In the Friendly Islands, the orange 

 cowry, Cyprcea aurantia, is used as a badge of chieftainship, and for 

 a long time specimens were almost priceless because none but the 

 chief was allowed to wear this ornament. Specimens of this species 

 are frequently seen in collections, with a hole in the back by means 

 of which it was suspended about the neck of the native chief. 



" Those who have described the cowries have given them many 

 fanciful names, some of which, however, are quite appropriate. Thus 

 we have the caputserpentis., or serpent's head; the arabica, or arable 

 shell, so named from the peculiar hieroglyphic-like characters on its 

 back ; the lynx, pantherina, and tigris. each shell resembling the coat 

 of the lynx, panther, and tiger; mus, the rat shell; 

 rhinoceros, the rhinoceros shell; turdus, the thrush, 

 and cervus, the deer. Many of the other names are 

 equally well chosen, as mappa, the map cowry, and 

 pustulata, the pustulose cowry. 



" It is interesting to note the prices that have 

 been paid for rare specimens of this family. At an 

 auction held in London many years ago, a specimen 

 of Cyprcea guttata brought two hundred dollars, and 

 Cyprcea princeps., another very rare shell, brought the 

 same price. Cyprcva umbilicata once sold for one 

 hundred and fifty dollars, but may now be had for 

 five dollars. Aurantia, the orange cowry, was once 

 almost priceless, but is now sold for from fifteen to 

 forty dollars. Some of the others which are less rare are Cyprcea scottii, 

 worth from five to eight dollars, and Cyprwa decipiens, from fifteen 

 to twenty dollars. These extravagant prices need not be paid by any 

 one desiring a collection of these pretty shells, for the price of a single 

 rarity will suffice to purchase the majority of the common species. 

 Several private collections in the United States contain from one hun- 

 dred and fifty to one hundred and seventy species, including a num- 

 ber of the rarities mentioned. 



OTHER SHELL MONEY 



"In connection with the Cyprcem it is of interest to notice other 

 species of mollusks which have been used as shell money. The North 

 American Indians used fragments of shells as money, which they called 



<_j \j / \j 



109 



The lynx cowry, 

 Cyprtea lynx, which 

 lives in the Indian 

 Ocean. (Tryon.) 



