40 



rich dark blackish-brown coating which is thinly spread over the dorsal 

 surface, opening' into irregular reticulations just as if its flow had been dis- 

 turbed by the intermixture of some oily liquid. In the C. Scottii the first 

 growth is a clear milky orange colour (Conch. Icon. Cypraa, PI. XXVII. 

 Fi°\ 10.), it then assumes a blueish tinge disposed inobscure bands, and 

 be°ins to show a few bright tortoise-shell-brown blotches, which rapidly 

 accumulate, as exhibited in the adult, long before there is any indication of 

 teeth. This is an arrangement different to that of most Cowries, in which 

 the teeth are chiefly developed before the last layer of colouring matter is 

 deposited. The sides and base then become thickened with an extremely 

 rich pitchy-brown coating of enamel, and the extremities compressed and 

 turned upwards. The most striking change, however, takes place in the 

 shell of C. tigris : first it is an uniform chesnut bay., the colour then breaks 

 up, as it were, into bands of close-set waved blotches of a richer hue, a 

 coating of white is then superimposed, and upon that is deposited a series 

 of rather distant zigzag flames upon a white ground ; the teeth are forming 

 in the mean time, and a few spots of colour make their appearance round 

 the outer side. In the next state of the shell, a second layer of white 

 enamel is superimposed, a thinner and more delicate stratum than the pre- 

 ceding, through which the zigzag flames may be seen of a milky hue ; and, 

 upon this surface a number of dark spots are deposited. These are again 

 overspread by a third white coating, intermixed with numerous rich black 

 and brown spots, showing, for the first time, a narrow dorsal hiatus, mostly 

 edged with reddish brown, with the first deposit of dark spots, thus over- 

 spread, of a milky hue.* 



The ornamental character with which the dorsal surface of the Cowries 

 is mostly painted, appears to be the last effort in the formation of the shell. 

 The previous infusions of colour rarely exhibit anything more than a dull 

 confusion of waves, clouds, or bands ; no ornamental device appears until 

 the shell is on the eve of maturity : the most richly variegated layers of 

 enamel are reserved for the final decoration. The C. mappa presents, how- 

 ever, a curious exception to this order of arrangement ; a layer of pale liiero- 

 glyphical painting, greatly resembling, except in colour, that of the C. 

 Arabica, is deposited by the animal on the left side chiefly, while yet in a 



* " Mr. Samuel Stutchbury, who had an opportunity of examining many individuals of C. 

 tigris at the Pearl Islands, informed me that these Cowries lived there in very shallow water, and 

 always under rolled masses of Madrepore. They never were to be seen exposed to the sun's 

 rays. On lifting one of these masses, a Tiger Cowrey was generally observed with its shell en- 

 tirely covered by the large mantle which was mottled with dark colours, the intensity of which 

 the animal seemed to have tbe power of changing ; for the colour varied in the same light and in 

 the same medium, after the manner of the spots on the Cephalopodous Mollusca, or, to use a 

 more familiar instance, somewhat in the manner that the hues of a turkey-cock's wattle vary. On 

 touching the mantle, it was immediately withdrawn within the shell, which became exposed in 

 all its brilliancy. So firmly did the soft parts adhere to the shell, that, in no instance, (and the 

 experiment was often made) did Mr. Stutchbury succeed in extracting them by force, either 

 during life, or before decomposition took place. He was obliged to let the animal die, and suffer 

 i lie soft parts to decay, in order to remove them."— Bhodkiup, Zool. Journal, vol. iv. p. 153. 



