386 THE POACHED EGG. 



may be seen on the upper left-hand of the engraving, crawling diagonally upwards 

 and remarkable for the great length and breadth of the foot, and development of the 

 mantle and tentacles. 



All the Cowries are lovers of the shallow waters near shore, and are carnivorous in 

 their habits, feeding mostly upon the numerous zoophytes that inhabit the same coasts. 

 These shells change their forms in a truly remarkable manner. When young, the shell 

 is very like that of a volute, having a prominent spire and a rather wide-spreading lip ; 

 but in process of time the lobes of the mantle expand over it on either side, and by 

 degrees deposit so thick a layer of smooth, shining substance, that the spire is entirely 

 hidden. The pale streak which generally exists along the back of the Cowries indi- 

 cates the line where the edges of the mantle nearly meet. 



This little Cowry is so well-known as to need no description. 



The celebrated MONEY COWRY (Cyprcea monttd) belongs to this genus. These little 

 white shells are well known as being the medium of barter in many parts of Western 

 Africa ; and vast multitudes of them are gathered from their home in the Pacific and 

 Eastern seas, and imported into this country for the purpose of immediate exportation 

 to the African coast. Sixty tons' weight of Money Cowries have been freighted at a 

 single British port in one year. 



IN the left-hand bottom corner of the engraving may be seen the beautiful PANTHER 

 COWRY, represented as it appears while living, its mantle covered with the curious 

 appendages which look very like the tentacles of the sea anemones. This species 

 derives its name from the rich mottling of the surface. A larger species is called the 

 TIGER COWRY. One of these shells is largely used by the natives of the Sandwich 

 Islands as sinkers for their nets, and a singularly ingenious bait is made from the same 

 shell for the capture of the cuttle-fish. 



A number of Cowries are cut in to- fragments and so fitted together as to form an oval 

 ball of considerable size, with a smooth and mottled surface. Something by way of 

 a tail or balance is fastened to one end of the ball, and the fishing-line tied to the other. 

 The bait is now complete, and is quietly lowered near the spot where the cuttle is known 

 to live, and drawn slowly along the ground. The ever-watchful cuttle is immediately 

 attracted by this novel object, and thinking it to be some hitherto unknown delicacy, 

 darts at it, and arrests its progress by attaching one of its arms to the smooth surface. 

 The fisherman then gives a slight jerk to his line, and the deluded cuttle, fancying that 

 its prey is trying to escape, makes fast another arm. By repeated jerks the cuttle 

 is induced to cling with all its force to the bait, when the fisherman rapidly hauls 

 up the line, and flings the sprawling mollusc on the shore before it is aware of its 

 danger. 



Several of these large Cowries can be successfully employed in the manufacture of 

 cameos, especially when human heads form the subject, as the dark mottlings of the 

 shell can be used with singular effect in expressing the deep warm shadows of wavy 

 tresses. The various articles of ornament that are made from these shells are too 

 multitudinous even to be enumerated, much less described. About one hundred and 

 fifty species of this genus are known. 



THE grooved or wrinkled edges of the lips are well known to every one who has 

 handled a Cowry, and these ridges assume a remarkable development in the DEEP- 

 TOOTHED COWRY, a figure of which may be seen in the right-hand bottom corner of the 

 engraving, the empty shell being laid so as to exhibit the opening and the lips. The 

 color of this shell is extremely variable, but is mostly a mottled wood brown, sometimes 

 diversified with bands, and dark inside. It is not a very large species. 



THREE examples of the curious Egg-shells are to be seen in the same engraving. The 

 upper central figure represents the POACHED EGG, a popular and appropriate name as 

 the peculiar shape and color of the shell bears a singular resemblance to the contour and 

 tints of a well-poached egg as it trembles on the toast. Thirty-six species of the Eggs 



