CHAP. IV. CYPR^ID^ OR COWRIES. 135 



table, we must leave it, as a fruitful an,d untrodden 

 field to those who wish to prosecute its .study. 



(123.) The passage to the CYPR^ID^E is so well 

 marked by those MarginellincB which have the spire com- 

 pletely hidden, as to leave no doubt of the cowries follow- 

 ing the volutes. We must, for want of space, omit the 

 accounts of the animals of the two typical divisions, 

 Cyprcea and Ovula, now well known by the excellent 

 descriptions of MM. Quoy and Gaimard : suffice it to 

 observe, they have some things in common with the 

 volutes; the foot is very large, and the tentacula short : 

 the mantle is dilated into two large lobes, almost sufficient 

 to cover the shell entirely, their junction being marked 

 by a pale line down the back, where the colour often 

 appears as if faded. The Cyprceince, or cowries, form 

 the typical, and the Ovulince, or egg-shells, the sub- 

 typical, group. The former are well known as among 

 the most -elegant and richly coloured of the Testacea; 

 always having the spire concealed, and generally onisci- 

 fonn, that is, oval, and flattened beneath. The 

 species are particularly numerous in tropical latitudes, 

 and several are among the most common shells in our 

 collections: they have been very ably investigated by Mr. 

 Gray, who has judiciously characterised and named some 

 of the types ; for they were all left by Lamarck in one 

 genus. The Ovulints resemble in general form the cow- 

 ries ; but the extremities of the aperture are generally 

 produced, and there are no teeth on the inner lip. Not 

 having yet investigated this division, we shall for the 

 present leave it as it is, and merely notice those which 

 seem to be the aberrant genera, connecting this family, 

 on one side, to the Folutidce, and, on the other, to the 

 Strombidce. The first we conjecture to be the fossil 

 genus Volvaria, as well defined by Mr. Sowerby * ; while 

 the latter union appears to be affected by Erato, where 

 the general shape is that of a Columbella, but with the 

 dorsal sulcated line of Trivea : between this we are dis- 

 posed to place, under the name of Cylindrella, two or three 



* Genera of Shells. 

 K 4 



