40 COWEIES. 



outline to tliis shell, of which there is a darker- coloured 

 variety of somewhat stouter form, called exustus — burned or 

 scorched. Of the Poached-egg Cowries there are several species, 

 the most common is called by naturalists Ovulum ovum, Eig. 4, 

 from ovum — an ^^g] the back of this shell is much elevated 

 and rounded; it is smooth and white; 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. Gibhosa;) the moon when more than half- full, is called 

 gibbous, that is, rounded unequally, as this shell. 



Tew shells undergo greater changes, both of shape 

 and colour, during the ])rocess of growth, than the 

 Cowries, which are called in Prance Porcelaines, 

 on account of their high i)olish and brilliant hues; 

 a single species in different 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 stnicture. The most rare and valuable, if not the 

 most beautiful, of these Cowries, is the C. aurora, ov aurantium, 

 Zklorning-dawn, or Orange Cowry, a jxrfect specimen of which 

 has been sold for fifty guineas. There is a \Qry curious 

 shell called the Common Weaver's Shuttle, {Oculum volva,) 

 generally included in the Cyprea family; of this a represent- 

 ation will be found on Plate YII, Fig. o. This is brought 

 from China. 



