THE COWRY 33 



PLATE XII 



THE COWRY (3) 



No doubt you have often found this very 

 pretty shell, for on the sandy parts of our coasts 

 it is sometimes very common. You may often 

 find twenty or thirty cowries, indeed, in one of 

 those ridges of pebbles and small coal which 

 are washed up by every tide. But if you were 

 to see the living animals crawling about I do 

 not think that you would ever guess what they 

 were, for their soft bodies come outside their 

 shells, which they cover up so completely that 

 you can hardly see them at all. 



If you look on the upper part of the shell, you 

 will see that a pale streak runs across it from 

 one side to the other. This streak marks the 

 line where the edges of the two sides of the 

 body almost meet. 



In some parts of the world cowry shells are 

 used instead of money. It seems rather an easy 

 way of getting rich, doesn't it, just to go and 

 pick up shells on the sea-shore? But then 

 fifteen hundred of these cowries are only worth 

 about a shilling, so that you would have to pick 

 up a very great many even if you only wanted 

 to do a day's shopping ! And then they are ever 



