Genus Cyprcea. 185 



cannot have been the Beast, far more likely the gigantic 

 Calamary, or Octopus, was intended, of which specimens 

 of almost Titanic size abound in deep sea caverns in Sicily 

 and the rocky Calabrian shore. 



Granted the name arose on account of the grace of 

 form of these shells, it is a matter of some little difficulty 

 to conjecture exactly the time ivhen it was bestowed upon 

 the genus exclusively. Linnseus probably did not coin it 

 himself ; he was fond of using ancient appellations, yet no 

 mention can be found of it in Pliny or Aristotle ; indeed, as 

 late as the time of Rumphius at the end of the seventeenth 

 ■century, it was termed PORCELLANA, or Erythr^A;-'' it is 

 probable, however, that about that date, or certainly not 

 later than 1740, CypR/EA usurped these old titles, and it 

 was, at all events, finally fixed, in strict accordance with 

 the revised canons of priority by Linnaeus (xii. ed. "Systema 

 Naturae") in the year 1767. 



Now, however, Cyprcea is, perhaps, the most conspicuous 

 and generally known of all Mollusca. Although we have 

 on^y one small representative of the family on our own coasts, 

 the variable little Nun Cowry, {C. [Trirm] Eiiropcea, Mon- 

 iagii), certain of the Tropical species are imported very 

 plentifully. No sandal-wood box, forwarded from the East 

 by native collectors, who abound at Singapore, Amboyna, 

 and Ceylon, but is certain to contain at least twenty of the 

 most ubiquitous and showy of the smaller kinds ; whilst of 

 the larger, C. Ma7iriiiana, pa7tthcrina,, talpa, and tigris are 

 well known as ornaments on many a cottage mantel-shelf. 

 Owing to the protection the surface of the shell receives 

 through its being more or less covered by the mantle of the 



• C. pantherina comes from the Red Sea, also some other beautiful species. 

 *' K. rubro lucida concha mari," Tibullus ii. 4, 30, and cf. Prop. iii. 1 1, 16. The 

 Meleagrina, or Pearl oyster, may however be more probably intended in these 

 allusions — as fisheries for the purpose are known to have been carried on in the 

 "Mare Erythrceum." 



N 



