234 



THE MUSEUM. 



claimed that when the Cyprtea had 

 outgrown his domicile and desired a 

 little more elbow room he simply 

 crawled out of his shell and built him 

 a "more stately mansion." This 

 theory was taught by Bruguiere, Lam- 

 arck and other eminent conchologists. 

 Another theory is that the animal dis- 

 solves its shell wholly and builds anew, 

 and one writer claims to have watch- 

 ed one go through the whole process. 



Either of these plans would account 

 for the fact that some very young and 

 immature shells are more than double 

 the size of other adult shells of the 

 same species. For instance I have 

 a C. Exanthema more than five inches 

 in length which is very immature be- 

 ing without teeth and without the 

 beautiful spots which give it the name 

 of the ocean flower: while many adult 

 shells of that species are less than 

 half as large. Another theory is that 

 the inside is dissolved away gradually 

 and the outside added to. 



They are very skillful in repairing 

 their shells when broken. I have one 

 which bears evidence of having been 

 dashed with great force against a rock 

 and splintered in more than twenty 

 directions and almost broken in two. 

 It was repaired so artistically that the 

 fracture was not apparent to the touch, 

 but could be followed by its being of a 

 lighter color. There is a C. mappa in 

 the Liverpool Museum which is finely 

 colored with exception of a triangular 

 spot, which is white; which defect was 

 evidently caused by a wound in its 

 mantle, some Devilfish probably hav- 

 ing nipped out a piece, before he had 

 secreted the pigments wherewith to 

 adorn his mansion. 



There are over two hundred species 

 of Cypraea, although the distinction 



between certain species is more im- 

 aginary than real. In some cases 

 dealers have been accused of adding 

 to the list in order to sell a shell to 

 each of their regular customers. For 

 instance C. stapJiylca and C. iiitcr- 

 stincta only vary slightly in color. C. 

 histi'io and C. reticulata are hardly 

 distinguishable — C. intermedia is a 

 certain shape of C. caput scrpcntis — 

 C. cauicUcopardiis is a certain color 

 of C . vitellus — C . bicornis is C. nius 

 with two little spots — C. rattns is C. 

 stcrcoraria with a sharp back — C . cer- 

 vinetta is a small dark C. exanthema 

 and there are half a dozen species that 

 vary but slightly from C. hiru)ido. 



The largest collection of Cypraea 

 is that in the British Museum of Nat- 

 ural history at South Kinsington. I 

 counted them as carefully as I could 

 and made out one hundred and ninety 

 seven species. Four of their speci- 

 mens are almost unique: viz. C. leiico- 

 don, C. marginata, C. princeps and 

 C. guttata, and many others are 

 very rare. They have recently pur- 

 chased a remarkable orange Cypraea 

 of immense size, deep color and per- 

 fect form. It is far superior to any 

 in any of the great public collections. 

 Their C . princeps is one of the most 

 beautiful shells I have ever seen. 



I counted in thePhiladelphiaAcademy 

 one hundred and eighty-eight species 

 and Prof. Pillsbry opened the cases 

 and permitted me to handle and ex- 

 amine some of the rarer gems of the 

 collection. By the way, I will say 

 here that Curator Edgar Smith of the 

 British Museum said to me that Try- 

 on's Manuel was vastly improved since 

 it was placed in the hands of Prof. 

 Pillsbry, which I consider a very high 

 compliment. 



