322 



UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



Miscellaneous Animal Products. — It will be convenient to 

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

 under other headings. 



Miscellaneous Pi'oducts of Molltiscs {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 

 A ciittic-bone Naluml 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' (CyprcFa 

 w(?^ y^^,*»^ 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 

 \^;^r^ certain amount of labour in the pro- 



Fig i^so.-Money cowry (Cjysr,?^ ««7«f^<i) cggg 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 



