THE MUSEUM. 



235> 



The collection of Cypraca in the 

 Garden of plants in Paris is a very 

 fine one and is the one from which 

 those fine drawings in the works of 

 Chenu and other French authors were 

 taken. 



The cases however are in a poor 

 light and so badly arranged that not 

 one half the labels can be read. 



Our national collection in the 

 Smithsonian is a disappointment to 

 nine hundred and ninety-nine of every 

 thousand visitors. I suppose it is 

 eminently satisfactory to the one in a 

 thousand who is shown through the 

 private cabinets, but that is no con- 

 solation to us of the nine hundred and 

 ninety-nine. In the public cases these 

 are not to exceed a thousand species 

 all told, and in some of the cases each 

 species is given a big dinner plate to 

 stretch itself in. If the space was 

 properly utilized at least three times 

 as many species could be exhibited. 

 There are many country villages in 

 Illinois in which may be found collec- 

 tions containing from two to five times 

 as many-species as are exhibited in the 

 public cases of our national collection. 

 There are shown only about twenty 

 species of Cypraead^ndi they are large- 

 ly of the commercial — fifteen cents a 

 dozen — class. In my little collection 

 I have one hundred and sixty-two 

 species of Cypraea. While the Smithson- 

 ian probably shows a smaller propor- 

 tion of its treasures to the public than 

 any other great collection in the world, 

 the Philadelphia Academy shows the 

 largest proportion of all, as the draw- 

 ers under the cases containing the 

 duplicates and series from different 

 localities are all covered with glass and 

 free to every visitor. 



The most beautiful American cyprsea 



is C. spadicca and it is excelled by few 

 in any clime. It is found at San Ped- 

 ro near Los Angeles and at other 

 points in California. 



The Orange Cowry is the emblem of 

 dignity and authority in the Friendly 

 Islands and none but a chief may wear 

 it. C. vwneta has been the coin of 

 the realm in certain parts of Africa 

 from high and antiquity. Marco Polo 

 notes their use in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury. In 1848 sixty tons, and in 1849. 

 three hundred tons of them were ship- 

 ped to Liverpool, to be reshipped to 

 Africa to be used in barter with the 

 natives. They pass at the rate of 

 about fonr thousand to the dollar. In 

 the Niger region a young and shapely 

 wife costs a young man from fifty to 

 seventy-five thousand cyprsea, while an 

 older one, minus a tooth or two or 

 whose outline showed less artistic 

 curves would go for twenty thousand. 

 If I were writing a scientific paper I 

 would not say right here that this may 

 be the origin of the saying ' 'shell out 

 young man." It is comforting to know 

 that there is a currency that has been 

 staple for six hundred years, in these 

 times of money agitation. 



We used to think that when we de- 

 posited a beautiful cyprsea in our cab- 

 inet that we could confidently say we 

 had a thing of beauty and a joy for- 

 ever; but now it appears that a new- 

 disease has made its appearance which 

 is as fatal to our cones and cypraea as 

 are the new disease — appendicitis and 

 grippe to our children. Prof. Edgar 

 Smith showed me scores of fine and 

 valuable shells which were attacked by 

 a sort of parasitic mould, which des- 

 troyed their smooth surfaces and robb- 

 ed them of their varied hues, causing 

 them to have the appearance of dead 



