120 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
species, of a snowy white, or pale flesh colour. 
Large and perfect specimens formerly sold at very 
high prices; one, in the possession of Mr. Bullock, 
has been valued at two hundred guineas. This 
kind of shell inhabits the coasts of Tranquebar, 
Batavia, Ceylon, Amboyna, the Philippine Islands, 
and Japan. 
The brilliant Nerita anciently derived its generic 
appellation from a suppositious power of swimming 
in the ocean. The shells included in this genus are 
extremely beautiful, and no art can equal the delicacy 
of the miniature paintings with which many species 
are adorned. The Nerita littoralis, of a bright yellow 
colour, is common to the Glamorganshire coast, and 
a considerable number were recently discovered with 
ivory bodkins, rods, and balls in the cave of Pavi- 
land, fifteen miles west of Swansea, between Oxevick 
Bay, and the Worm’s Head. This exposed and 
solitary cave had once, most probably, been the scene 
of human labours. Fragments of charcoal, and the 
bones of oxen, indicate the fact; and it was evident 
that the small Nerites had either been preserved for 
their beauty, or used in a simple kind of game which 
is now common in that part of Glamorganshire.— 
The remains of a Roman camp are also visible on the 
summit of the hill that rises above the cave; a fact 
that seems to throw some light on the character and 
