Cowries, 71 



markers or counters in social games; tliey are 

 generally wliitej in shape rather broad and flat^ 

 being mnch 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 YII. 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 {G. 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 {G. maiiioa), 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 Pdch-mouthed variety, from the Mauritius. 

 Fig. 3, the Mole Cowry (C taljxt), the last word 

 being the Latin for a mole, is of a more slender 

 form than most other species of the Gyprceidce 

 family, so called on account of their beauty — Gyi^rea, 

 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 sheU, 

 of which there is a darker-coloured variety of 



