274 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



is a turbinate shell, reddish and yellow, lip rose-coloured 

 without and striated. The bull's mouth and black helmet 

 are the best shells, for the horned helmet is apt to separate 

 from the ground, or to " double," as the French workmen 

 call it ; the queen conch has the two colours seldom 

 distinctly marked from each other, and the pink of the 

 ground flies by exposure to the light. The red colour 

 of the bull's mouth only extends a small distance in the 

 mouth of the shell, becoming paler as it proceeds back- 

 ward, as may be observed by the pale side generally to 

 be seen in such red-grounded cameos. Hence, the bull's 

 mouth affords only a single cameo large enough for a 

 brooch, and several small pieces for shirt-studs, while the 

 black helmet furnishes on an average about five brooches 

 and several stud-pieces. The queen conch yields only a 

 single good piece. Cassis flammea, about six inches long, 

 and C. decussata and C. tuberosa, white upon a dark claret 

 colour, are occasionally used. 



The bull's mouth shells are brought from India and 

 Ceylon, the black helmets and the queen conchs from the 

 West Indies, and all are supplied through the London 

 market. 



Shell cameos, some years ago, were a good deal in 

 fashion ; and even now a well-executed, artistic Roman 

 shell cameo is an elegant work of art. Genoa and Rome 

 are the seats of the best work, although many common 

 ones are cut in France. In Rome there are about 80 shell- 

 cameo cutters, and in Genoa 30, some of whom also carve 

 in coral. The art of cameo-cutting was confined to Rome 

 for upwards of 40 years, and to Italy until the last 26 

 years, at which time an Italian began cutting cameos in 

 Paris, and now over 3000 persons are employed in that 

 city. 



