yo JACKSON, Use of Cowty-skells for Currency, Amulets, etc. 



that they are from the Pacific coast. Fig. 1 1 shows a 

 cowry with a small hole near each extremity, illustrating, 

 it is stated (p. 220), "an ancient as well as a modern 

 method of perforation." The name of the species is not 

 given, but it does not appear to me to be an American 

 shell. Though the illustration is not sufficfently clear to 

 define the species, in general appearance and contour the 

 shell has a look of Cyprcea caput-serpentis — an Indo-Pacific 

 species. 



Holmes' Fig. 12 (see Fig. 4B) shows a shell rubbed 

 down on the back, and is referred, like the last, to Cyprcea ; 

 but this is incorrect, the shell being undoubtedly Ovula 

 (Calpurnus) verrucosa, L. ly5 (Fig. 4 A). This fact is of 

 great importance and has hitherto passed unnoticed. 

 Like the money-cowry, C. vioneta, which it somewhat 

 resembles, this species is alien to the American continent ; 

 it is known to occur only in East Africa, the Indian 

 Ocean, Philippines, New Caledonia and neighbouring 

 Islands. 



According to Schmeltz (op. cit, 1894, p. 34), this shell 

 is worn as a neck-ornament in the Viti, or Fiji, Islands ; 

 as a hip-ornament in Santa Cruz (Queen Charlotte 

 Islands) ; and as a leg-ornament in East New Guinea. 

 The Rev. A. H. Cooke 190 also informs us that in Papua, 

 " village elders are distinguished by a single Ovulum 

 verrucosus, worn in the centre of the forehead." 



The fact that the shell figured by Holmes is ground 

 down on the back, as is done in the case of money- 

 cowries in India, Africa, and other places, is of no little 

 interest. Such an arbitrary method of perforation does 



105 The well-defined tubercles at the extremities confirm this identifi- 

 cation. Compare, Tryon's "Manual of Conchology," vii., 1885, pi. 5, fig. 

 56-58 (Ovulidoe) ; Reeve, " Conchologia Iconica : Monograph of the Genus 

 Ovulum," 1865, pi. i., fig- 2. 



100 " Molluscs," Camb. Nat. Hist., vol. iii., London, 1895, p. 99. 



