72 Beautiful Shells, 



somewliat stouter foi-m, called cxustus — burned or 

 scorclied. Of tlie Poaclied-egg Cowries tliere are 

 several species^ tlio most common is called by 

 naturalists Oculum ovum, Fig. 4, from ovum — an 

 egg; the back of this shell is mucli elevated and 

 rounded ; it is smooth and vrliite ; the inside is 

 orange brown. Some of the Poached-egg group 

 are of a more slender and angular shape, as, for 

 instance, that called the Gibbous (0. Glhhosa) ; the 

 moon when more than half-full, is called gibbous— 

 that is, rounded unequally, as this shell. 



Few shells undergo greater changes, 

 both of shape and colour, during the 

 process of growth, than the Cowries, 

 which are called in France Porcelaines, 

 on account of their high polish and 

 brilliant hues ; a single species in dif- 

 ferent stages of development might well be, and 

 often is, taken for distinct shells. Much might be 

 said about the Mollusks which inhabit them, but 

 our present subject has rather to do with their outer 

 covering than their internal structure. The most 

 rare and valuable, if not the most beautiful of these 

 Cowries, is the G. aurora, or aurantlum, Morning- 

 dawTi, or Orange Cowry, a perfect specimen of 

 which has been sold for fifty guineas. There is a 



