THE AXLAIAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 455 



the labeled specimens in the extensive collection of Hawaiian shells at the 

 Bishop Museum. 



Leis were occasionally made by the Hawaiians of certain species of cone 

 (leho) shells, but as a rule they were too scarce to be much used, althou'jh 

 there is a string several feet in length in the Bishop JMuseum and the author has 

 two such leis in his private collection. 



Auger Shells. 



The auger shells ■'^ are most appropriately named, for the lojig, tapering, 

 many flat-whorled spire at once characterizes them, while the small aperture, 

 notched in front, renders them easily placed in the single genus to which a])out 

 two dozen Hawaiian species belong. These hard, sharp-pointed shells were of 

 much use to the Hawaiians in various waA's. They were formerly used as drill 

 points in their crude but ingenious rotary drills. There they served their true 

 purpose of an auger, but the hard, sharp outer lip was equally effective as a 

 tool when used as a scraper. They made excellent stoppers for the small- 

 necked gourds that once were used for the storage of water. 



Even the fragment of the crenulated auger shell" washed ashore is suffi- 

 cient for the identification of this large species in which the whorls are obtusely 

 nodulated below the suture.' Fresh specimens are cream-colored, streaked 

 with, chestnut between the nodules, and with three revolving rows of chestnut 

 spots on the body-whorl and two rows on the remainder of the si)ire. Adult 

 specimens are five inches in length. The spotted auger shell, '^ Avhen fully 

 adult, is almost as large as the foregoing, but is orange-brown with a I'ow of 

 large white spots just below the suture and a second row below tlic middle of 

 the body-whorl. The largest species occurring in Hawaii is Tcrebra macidala. 

 Specimens in the writer's collection vary from three to nine inches in length. 

 Large shells were much sought for by the natives, as they were fond of the 

 animal and used the chisel-like edge of the shell in scraping out the wooden 

 hulls of their canoes. 



Perhaps the Gould auger shell'' is the eonnnonest species found on (Ma- 

 Hawaiian sand-rimmed bays. It is a smaller species and one of a large num- 

 ber of this group of shells which is peculiar in that it has what appears to bo 

 a double suture about the spire. This band is slightly nodulated, while tin' 

 body of each whorl is longitudinally plicated. The shell is creainy-white 

 banded with very pale chestuut. and has thi'ce bands on the body-whorl. The 

 cancellated auger shelP" is smallei' and has the nan'ow nodulous b.ind \\liite. 

 To the unpracticed eye it is otherwise very similai- to the |)r(TC(linL;- foi-iii. 



A fifth form which is fairly common on saiuly shores is Tcrebra aciculiua. 

 It is about an inch and a half in length, varies in color from deep chocolate to 

 pale ash color, and is white-banded at the suture, as well as on the free edge of 

 the body-whorl. Perhaps twenty species of auger shells can be secured in 



^ Terebrida>. <^ Terehra rreniilnta. "The line where the whorls of the sliell unite. 



8 Terebtd ocuUitii. » Terebra ijoi'ldi. i" Terebra cavci-Uata. 



