THE COWRIES. 323 
the rich mottling of the surface. A larger species is called the TrazeR 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 into 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 




POACHED EGG.—Ovulum ovum. 
COMMON COWRY.—Cyprea europea. WEAVER’S SHUTTLE.— Ovulum volva. MARGINELLA.—Marginella diddocha. 
PANTHER COWRY.—Cyprea pantherina. WARTY EGG.—Ovuum verruchsum. DEEP-TOOTHED COWRY.—Cypraa caurica. 
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 
