No. 21. CYPREA. 



Cowry. Inhabitant a Limax. 



Shell univalve, involuted, subovate, obtuse and smooth, aperture effuse at 

 each end, linear, dentated at both sides, and longitudinal. In their young 

 state, the Cyprea have the appearance of a Volute; insomuch that writers have 

 been misled, and have classed them among the Voluta. 



There is no tribe of shells which, on the whole, are more beautiful than 

 these. From their high polish and brilliant colors, they have derived the 

 name (by which they are known in France, most commonly) of Porcelains. 

 The species are very numerous. In civilized countries, several of them are 

 used as an ornament for the persons of men and women; and some are worn 

 as amulets or charms against disease. They reside in the sand at the bottom 

 of the sea, and are furnished with a membrane which is so extensive, that they 

 are able to throw it over their whole shells, and thus preserve them always 

 pure and polished. The animals have two horns, and the canal by which they 

 respire is situated on the top of their head. 



The Tiger Cowry, (C. Tigris,) and Money Cowry, (C. Moneta.) — There 

 are few shells more common, of the present tribe, in collections, than the 

 former of these species. It is found both in the Indian and Adriatic Seas. 

 The latter are well known in almost all the coasts of Africa and India, where 

 they are employed by the natives, in commerce, instead of money, and about 

 two thousand of them are esteemed equal to a rupee. The negro women, it 

 is stated, fish for them usually three days, before or after the full moon; and 

 thirty or forty vessels are annually laden with them, in the Maldivian islands, 

 for exportation to Africa, Bengal, Siam, and the adjacent islands, for the 

 purposes of commerce. Of the Cowries, a very remarkable fact has been 

 stated by Mons. Brugiere, that when the animals find their shells too small for 

 the increased dimensions of their bodies, they quit them, and proceed to the 

 formation of new ones of larger size, and consequently better adapted to their 

 wants. 



