Use of Cowry-shells for Currency, Amutlets, etc. 19% 
nately, neither the name of the tribes concerned, nor the 
name’ of the shell employed, are given; but the fact of 
the latter being called a “porcelane” is not without 
interest, as “porcelaine” is the common French term for 
cowry. There is no certain evidence, however, to support 
the conclusion that a cowry was the shell employed asa 
war signal. Earlier in this Chapter we have seen that when 
the Egbas of West Africa meditated war, cowries were 
thrown into the air by the war-priest ; and in the Yoruba 
country, where cowries are used for symbolic messages, 
a solitary cowry indicates defiance. 
Ovula (Calpurnius) verrucosa L, 
A.—Philippines (after Keeve). 
&.—Ancient American graves (after Holmes). 
Mr. W. H. Holmes, in his “ Art in Shell of.the Ancient 
Americans,” ™ illustrates in Plate xxxii. a number of 
perforated marine shells exhumed from ancient graves of 
North America, Two of these (Figs. 11 and 12) are of 
special interest as coming within the scope of the present 
discussion. Unfortunately the precise data regarding 
the site of their discovery are not given ; all we are told ts 
194 Second Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1883, 
pp- 179-305. 
