Cowries. 71 
markers or counters in social games; they are 
generally white, in shape rather broad and flat, 
being much spread out round the edges, which are 
slightly puckered like frills. Here are two figures 
of the shell, exhibiting the back and front view. 
On Plate VII. will be found a group of other 
Foreign Cowries, most of which will be recognized 
as familiar ornaments of the mantle and sideboard. 
Fig. 1 is the Spotted or Leopard Cowry, sometimes 
also called the Tiger Cowry (0. tigris), which, in 
the earlier stages of its growth, is simply marked 
with broad bands of lighter colour across the shell. 
Fig. 2, the Map Cowry (C0. mappa), curiously 
marked and shaded so as to resemble a coloured 
map; there are several varieties of this beautiful 
shell, such as the rosy and dark variety from the 
Pearl Islands in the Indian Ocean; the Citron and 
Dwarf Rich-mouthed variety, from the Mauritius. 
Fig. 3, the Mole Cowry (C. talpa), the last word 
being the Latin for a mole, is of a more slender 
form than most other species of the Cypraide 
family, so called on account of their beauty—Cyprea 
being a name of Venus, the goddess of beauty. 
Any one who has seen a mole, must be struck with 
the resemblance of its general outline to this shell, 
of which there is a darker-coloured variety of 
