1 86 Mr. Cosmo Melvill on the 



mollusc during life, a specimen in inferior condition is the 

 exception, not the rule, and this fact adds to their abundance 

 and, perhaps, popularity. 



(I.) Uses, coiiunercial or otherwise. — The Money Cowry 

 {C. vioneta L.) is of commercial interest, from being used as 

 a substitute for coin, especially in Africa and certain parts 

 of India. This is a very abundantly distributed species, of 

 less beauty either of form or colour than many of its kindred,, 

 but of very marked individuality. It is collected plentifully 

 throughout the Eastern Islands, especially in the lagoons, 

 of the low-lying Laccadives and Maldives, in the Indian 

 Ocean. About 3,200 Cowries equal a rupee in value. From 

 a very remote period we read of these shells, or some allied 

 species, being used for various purposes. The term Cowrie, 

 or Gowrie, is derived from the Greek x"'^P"'-^i '^ little pig; and 

 the xot,on'^, according to Liddell and Scott, was a 'small sea 

 mussel, probably the porcelain shell,' which was used by the 

 Athenian dicasts in voting : — so quoted by Aristophanes, 



ov xoLC)LvG)v ol^wi', aWa crTroi'cCJy.''^ 



and, again, 



i] ^fJTa X'lQov fie ttoii^gov t'0ov 

 TCLQ yoipivaQ apidfiovfriyy 



Following the example of the Greeks, the Romans 

 termed these little shells porei or porctili, whilst the French 

 nowadays term them pou de mer ; and in the word porcelain 

 we can also trace the same derivation. 



Some of the larger species, too, especially C. tigris and 

 Arabica, are used for ornamental shell w^ork. The latter, 

 when decorticated with acid, has a fine lilac surface ; the 

 Lord's Prayer, and other inscriptions I have seen carved on 

 these species ; also heads, as on the true Cameo shells, 

 Strombus or Cassis, but the effect is usually inferior, the 

 Cowry shells being hardly massive enough for this purpose. 



* Aristoph. Eq. 1332. 



•" Aristoph. Vespre. 333, 334. 



