CYPRJIA.— Plate IV. 



arrived at maturity, m Tvliicli the columella is of tlie same 

 rich orange as the back, prior to the layer of white ena- 

 mel being deposited. 



Species 13. Fig. a. and b. (Mus. Cuming.) 



Cypk.ea tigkis. Cypr. testa ovata, ventricosd, basi plano- 

 concavd, dentibus majusculis ; dorso albido mdjlmes- 

 cente, guttk nigricantibns majusculis, cceruleo nebulatis, 

 promiscue picfo, ba-si nived, immaculatd. 



The tiger Cowey. SheE ovate, ventricose, base flatly 

 concave, teeth rather large ; back whitish or yellow- 

 ish, promiscuously painted with rather large blackish 

 blue-clouded spots ; base snowy wliite, unspotted. 

 Testa junior. 



Testa jmiior albida,flammis ferrwjineh midatis suhdistanti- 



bus ornata. 

 Yomiger shell wliitish, ornamented mth rather distant 



zigzag rusty brown flames. 



Testa juvenis. 

 Testa jiivetiis uniusmodi castanea, albido-flamcante interdum 



inter fvpta et fasciata. 

 Young shell uniibrm chesnut, sometimes interrupted and 



banded with pale yellow. 



LiNN.Eus, Syst. Nat. (12th edit.) p. 1176. 

 Hab. Eastern Seas. 



Testa junior, Cypraa flammea, Gmelin. 



The progress of this shell exliibits a curious variety in 

 the style of colouring ; — &st, it is a uniform chesnut bay, 

 the coloiu" then breaks up, as it were, into bands of close- 

 set waved blotches of a richer hue, a coating of white is 

 then superimposed, and upon that is deposited a series of 

 rather distant zigzag flames, such as are represented at 

 fig. a. The rich coloming of the tu'st state is now, there- 

 fore, concealed, and nothing is seen but a few zigzag 



flames upon a white ground ; the teeth are forming in the 

 mean time, and a few spots of colour make their appear- 

 ance round the outer side. In the next state of the shell, 

 a second layer of wliite enamel is superimposed, a tliinuer 

 and more delicate stratum than the preceding, through 

 which the zigzag flames may be seen of a rmlky hue ; and, 

 upon this surface a number of dark spots are deposited. 

 These are again overspread by a thu'd white coating, in- 

 termixed with numerous rich black and brown spots, show- 

 ing, for the fti'st time, a narrow dorsal hiatus, mostly 

 edged with reddish brown ivith the first deposite of dark 

 spots, thus overspread, of a blueish mUky hue. 



I cannot resist inserting the following interesting obser- 

 vations on the habits of this species by Mi\ Broderip. 

 " Mr. Samuel Stutclibmy, who had an opportunity of 

 examining many individuals of C. tlgris at the Pearl Is- 

 lands, informed me that these cowries lived there in very 

 shallow water, and always under rolled masses of Madre- 

 pore. They never were to be seen exposed to the sun's 

 rays. On lifting one of these masses, a Tiger Cowry was 

 generally observed with its shell entii-ely covered by the 

 large mantle which was mottled ^-ith dark coloiu's, the in- 

 tensity of which the animal seemed to have the power of 

 changing ; for the colour varied in the same light and iu 

 the same medium, after the mamier of the spots on the 

 Cephalopodous MoUusca, or, to use a more familiar in- 

 stance, somewhat in the same way that the hues of a 

 turkey-cock's wattle vary. On touching the mantle, it 

 was immediately withdrawn within the sheU, which became 

 exposed in aU its brilliancy. So firmly did the soft parts 

 adhere to the shell, that, in no instance, (and the experi- 

 ment was often made) did Mi\ Stutchbmy succeed in ex- 

 tracting them by force, either diu'ing life, or before decom- 

 position took place. He was obliged to let the animal 

 die, and suffer the soft parts to decay, in order to remove 

 them." — Zool. Journal, vol. iv. p. 163. 



