Use of CoK'rv-s/ic//s for ( '/{rrctnj. Amulets, etc. 179 



(3) Tlic small shells ; 2 tsiDi, 4 /<"•;/ in length ; a pair 



of which was worth 30 cowries. 



(4) The lesser shells ; i tsuii, 2 /(•;/ in leni^lh ; a pair 



of wiiich was worth 10 cowries. 



(5) The smallest shells {cyprece inonetcc, or cowries, 



beini^ smaller than i tsun 27^?/, were not fastened 

 in pairs ; each was worth three cash. Tiiose 

 which were smaller than six feii were not used 

 for cnrrenc)'." 



The shells of groups r to 4 seem to have been un- 

 doubted cowries, as in group 5, only larger, as the same 

 cliaracteristic C'hinese hieroglyph denoting cowry (see 

 Fig. C, p. 180.) api)ears against eacli of the groups. 



Unfortunatel\% except for dimensions, the particulars 

 are lacking as to the species of cowries forming these 

 four groups. 



If we ma}' take the measurements as more or less 

 approximating to English inches, it is possible to find a 

 series of cowries inhabiting Eastern seas which would 

 come within these dimensions. 1^'or example, Cyprcea 

 testndiiiaria (the " tortoise-cowr\-," named by Linn.eus 

 from its resemblance to the tortoise) might very well have 

 served for group i. Of the others, group 2 may have 

 been smaller examples of the same, or even Cypnea tigris ; 

 group 3 may have been Cypnea lynx \ while group 4 were 

 probably exceptionally large examples of Cypnea vioticta. 

 The average length of the latter species is about one inch. 



Regarding the tortoise-shells re-issued by Wang Mang, 

 Eacouperie informs us that "there were four different 

 sorts, of various sizes and denominations, with different 

 values, but the details have not yet been handed down to 

 our time." It is not a little curious that the larger cowry- 

 shells were also of four different sorts, si/.es, and values. 



