The Cowries. Venus Shells 



tufted with brilliantly coloured, branching, coral-like outgrowths, 

 and numerous spots of contrasting hues. Beneath is the thick, 

 richly coloured foot on which the creature glides with dignity 

 and grace over the rocks, below the level of the lowest tide. 



"What daring is exhibited," we naturally exclaim, "by 

 this proud aristocrat of the mollusk world, which exposes itself 

 to countless dangers by such superlative ornamentation! 

 How much wiser is the humble periwinkle of colder coasts, which 

 puts on colours to match the slimy mud it lives in." 



Remember that tropical shores are unlike ours, even as 

 tropical birds and flowers and fruits make ours seem tame and 

 colourless. The traveller who has looked through the glass 

 bottom of a Bermuda or a Santa Catalina boat, or gazed through 

 a water glass on the painted fish and the brilliant coral groves in 

 the harbour of Nassau needs no hint from me of the riot of colour, 

 and wealth of ornamentation lavished by nature upon the sea 

 beaches where the coral polyps, the gorgonias and the cowries 

 flourish. The poet Percival must have looked upon that en- 

 chanting scene or he could not have written, in "The Coral 

 Grove" 



The floor is of sand, like the mountain drift. 

 And pearl shells spangle the flinty snow; 



From coral reefs the sea plants lift 

 Their heads where the tides, and billows flow. 



There, with a light and easy motion. 



The fan-coral sweeps through the clear, deep sea. 



And the purple and scarlet tufts of ocean 

 Are bending like corn on the upland lea; 



And life in rare and beautiful forms 



Is sporting amid those bowers of stone. 



And is safe when the wrathful spirit of storms 

 Has made the top of the waves his own. 



The cowries exhibit protective coloration just as the gorgeous 

 tropic birds do in the blossoming silvas. 



The problem of the cowry shell's development has always 

 puzzled conchologists. Few scientific observers have had any 

 evidence to submit, so speculation has helped on the controversial 

 discussion. Because a series of shells of any well-known species 

 shows considerable difference in size, some argued that the mollusk 



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