204 NATURAL HISTORY. 



specimens are still worth ten guineas. The Cyprcea leucodon, in the same collection, is unique, and 

 worth 50 ; the C. princeps was valued at 60 ; and other examples have realised 40 at the 

 Tankerville sale, and 40 at the sale of Mr. Holford's collection ; Mr. Dennison, of Liverpool, had 

 one which cost 35. The specimen of Cyprcea guttata in the British Museum is valued at 40 ; and 

 the rare little Cyprcea barclayi, when first brought to England, obtained 10 ; and Cyprcea guttata 

 has realised sums varying from 12 to 30, within, the last ten years, and as the specimens are 

 generally in poor condition, it is certain that fine examples would still command a high price. The 

 cabinet of Miss Saul, of Bow Lodge, is considered to be richer than any other in this group of shells, 

 and the late Mr. Gaskoin. who wrote a monograph of the genus Cyprcea had a very extensive series, 

 which afterwards was united to the magnificent collection of the late Mr. Lombe Taylor, of Starston. 

 (S. P. Woodward.) 



The Money Cowry (Cyprcea moneta) is a native of the Pacific and Eastern seas. Many tons' 

 w eight of this little shell are annually imported into England, and again exported for barter with 



the native tribes of Western Africa. In the year 1848 sixty tons 

 of the Money Cowry were imported into Liverpool. Wilson says of 

 Cyprcea moneta : " The Cowry shells used as currency are procured 

 on the coast of Congo, and in the Philippine and Maldive Islands. 

 Of the latter, indeed, they still constitute the chief article of export. 

 At what I'emote date, or at what early stage of rudimentary civi- 

 lisation, this singular representative shell-currency was introduced, 

 it is perhaps vain to inquire, but the extensive area over which 



MONEY COWRY. i^ uas l n g been recognised proves its great antiquity. The 



Philippine Islands form, in part, the eastern boundary of the 



Southern.,. Pacific, and the Maldives lie off the Malabar Coast, in the Indian Ocean ; but their 

 shells circulate as currency not only through Southern Asia, but far into the African continent." 



In Ellis's " Polynesian Researches," vol. ii., p. 292, he gives an account of fishing for Cuttle-fish 

 with an artificial bait, formed of a piece of hard wood, to which a number of the most beautiful 

 pieces of the Cowry, or Tiger-shell, are fastened one over another, until it is about the size of 

 a turkey's egg, and resembles the Cowries. It is suspended in a horizontal position by a strong line, 

 and lowered by the fishermen from a small canoe until it nearly reaches the bottom. The fisherman 

 continues gently to jerk the line, when the Cuttle-fish, attracted by the appearance of the Cowry, 

 darts out one of its arms, which it winds around the shell, and fastens among the openings of the 

 plates. The jerking being continued, the fish puts out another and another arm, till it has quite 

 fastened itself to the shell bait, when it is drawn up into the canoe and secured. 



One of the earliest uses to which the shells of Mollusca appear to have been applied was 

 that of articles of dress. In MM. Lartet and Christy's " Reliquiae Aquitanicse " (Part III., 1866, 

 B., PI. v., Figs. 15-20) we find illustrations of several shells viz., Cyprcea pyrum, Pectuncn/'/'s 

 glycimeris, Area breislaki -which show clearly, by their having been perforated, that they had been 

 worn either as ornaments or charms by the aborigines who inhabited the cave of La Madelaine. The 

 custom of using shells, &c., as necklaces or other personal decorations, is common, not only amongst 

 savages, but even amongst civilised races at the present day. In this case the shells have been 

 obtained, not from river or sea, but from the Faluns of Touraine or Bordeaux, deposits of Miocene 

 age, rich in fossil marine shells, many of which are so well preserved as to retain the glazed surface 

 seen in recent specimens. Dr. Fischer, of Paris, has determined as many as five species in the caverns 

 of Pe'rigord. 



An Oolitic Belemnite, having its sides squared by grinding, was found among the debris in 

 the cavern of Bruniquel, department Tarn -et- Garonne ; also an Ammonite and a Gryphsea, probably 

 introduced by children as toys. Perforated recent marine shells were likewise numerous. These 

 relics are preserved in the British Museum. Shells are at the present day as greatly in demand 

 for ornamental purposes as in pre-historic times. The Chinooks of Oregon ornament their noses and 

 ears with shells of Dentalium. The Friendly and Fiji Islanders wear the Orange Cowry (Cyprcea 

 aurora) as a mark of chieftainship. The natives of Flinders Island and the New Zealander polish the 

 Elenchus into an ornament more brilliant than the " pearl ear-drop " of classical or modern times. 



