192 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
that they are from the Pacific coast. Fig. 11 shows a 
cowry with a small hole near each extremity, illustrating, 
it is stated (p. 220), “an ancient as well as a modern 
method of perforation.” The name of the species is not 
given, but it does not appear to me to be an American 
shell. Though the illustration is not sufficiently clear to 
define the species, in general appearance and contour the 
shell has a look of Cyprea caput-serpentis—an Indo-Pacific 
species, 
Holmes’ Fig. 12 (see /7g. 2, p.191) shows a shell rubbed 
down on the back, and is referred, like the last, to Cyprea ; 
but this is incorrect, the shell being undoubtedly Ovadla 
(Calpurnus) verrucosa, L. (dag. A, p.191). This fact is of 
ereat importance and has hitherto passed unnoticed. 
Like the money-cowry, C. moneta, which it somewhat 
resembles, this species is alien to the American continent ; 
it is known to occur only in East Africa, the Indian 
Ocean, Philippines, New Caledonia and neighbouring 
Islands. 
According to Schmeltz (of. c7t., 1894, p. 34), this shell 
is worn as a neck-ornament in the Viti, or Fiji, Islands ; 
as a hip-orfament in Santa Cruz (Queen Charlotte 
Islands); and as a leg-ornament in East New Guinea. 
The Rev. A. H. Cooke™ also informs us that in Papua, 
“village elders are distinguished by a single Ovulum 
verrucosum, Worn in the centre of the forehead.” 
The fact that the shell figured by Holmes is ground 
down on the back, as is done in the case of money- 
cowries in India, Africa, and other places, is of no little 
interest. Such an arbitrary method of perforation does 
196 The well-defined tubercles at the extremities confirm this identifi- 
cation. Compare, Tryon’s “ Manual of Conchology,” vii., 1885, pl. 5, fig. 
56-58 (Ovulidw) ; Reeve, ‘* Conchologia Iconica : Monograph of the Genus 
Ovulum,” 1865, pl. i., fig. 2. 
ive * Molluscs,’ Camb. Nat. Hist., vol. ili., London, 1895, p. 99. 
