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UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 1229. A Cuttle-bone 



MISCELLANEOUS ANIMAL PRODUCTS. It will be convenient to 

 consider here a few odds and ends, which are difficult to place 

 under other headings. 



Miscellaneous Products of Molluscs (Mollusca). The internal 

 shell of the Cuttle-fish (Sepia officinalis, fig. 1229), under the 



name of " cuttle -bone ", is 

 ground up to form an in- 

 gredient of various tooth- 

 powders. Before the inven- 

 tion of blotting-paper it was 

 largely used (as also- was fine 

 sand)* to sprinkle upon wet 

 writing. It was known as 

 " pounce", and a " pounce- 

 box ", with a perforated top, 

 was part of the regular equip- 

 ment of an old-fashioned ink- 

 stand or standish. 



Cooke (in The Cambridge 

 Natural History) makes the 

 following interesting remarks 



about the miscellaneous uses of shells: " The employment of 

 shells as a medium of exchange was exceedingly common amongst 

 uncivilized tribes in all parts of the world, and has by no means 

 yet become obsolete. One of the commonest species thus em- 

 ployed is the 'money cowry' (Cyprtza 

 moneta, L., fig. 1230), which stands 

 almost alone in being used entire, 

 while nearly all the other forms of 

 shell money are made out of por- 

 tions of shells, thus requiring a 

 certain amount of labour in the pro- 

 cess of formation. ... In British 

 India about 4000 are said to have 



passed for a shilling, but the value appears to differ according to 

 their condition, poor specimens being comparatively worthless. 

 According to Reeve a gentleman residing at Cuttack is said to 

 have paid for the erection of his bungalow entirely in cowries. 

 The building cost him 4000 Rs. sicca (about ^400), and as 64 

 cowries = i pice, and 64 pice = i rupee sicca, he paid over 



Fig. 1230. Money Cowry (Cypreea moneta) 



