128 Shells as ci'idcnct' of the Mi>ratiojis. 



be seen by the footnotes. Much further information, how- 

 ever, not noted by Schneider, is embodied here, more 

 especially with regard to the use of cowries in Ancient 

 Egypt, l^astern Asia, North America, and many other 

 places. 



Cowries appear to have been appreciated and used as 

 amulets at a very early period in Eg)pt. Both CypJ'cea 

 mo7ic(n and Cvprwa annnlus — the forms so universally 

 used for currency — have been discovered, along with other 

 cowries, in Pre-dynastic burials, and botli forms have been 

 found repeatedly in later graves in Egypt and Nubia. 

 According to Lortet and Gaillard," the following species 

 of cowries have been found at Karnak : Cypra:a vitellus, 

 C. Tigris, C. patiiheriiia, C. cavulopardalis ( =vielanostoina), 

 C. arabica, and var. histrio, C.crythneensis, C. capiit-serpentis, 

 C. viotieta and C. aujiulus — all species which occur to-day 

 in the Red Sea. The larger forms are perforated near 

 one end as if for use as pendants. The examples of 

 C. ii/oiietti and C. annnlus are of peculiar interest from the 

 fact that they have been rubbed down on the back or 

 convex side — a custom which is still in vogue among the 

 East African people to-day. Of further interest is the 

 figure given by the same authors of a reproduction in 

 diorite (;f a Cypnca vioncta. This object, which is per- 

 forated for suspension, was found in the necropolis of 

 Rizakat, near Gebelen, Upper Egypt. In a tomb (D 1 14) 

 at Abydos, of xviiith dynasty date, large numbers of 

 Cyprcca annnlus were discovered, all of them having been 

 rubbed down on the back, as at Karnak. *" The same 



• l.uitet & (iaillard, "L:i Faune Momifiee de I'ancienne Kgypte : 

 MoUusiiue.'^," Arch. Miis. d'HisL Nai. de Lyon, vol. 10, Lyon, 1909, pp. 

 108- 1 11; see also List of Species, pp. 3 10-31 1. 



■- T. K. I'eei & W . L. S. Loal, "The C'emetevies of Ahyilos,'" pt. IIL 

 19121913,35111 Mem. Egypt. Explor. /■'and, I9i3,p. 30, pi. xii., figs. 6 ^: 9. 

 (The Series is now in the Manchester Museum). 



