Use of Cowry -shells for Currency, Amulets, etc. 133 



Roman necropolis of Trion, at Lyons ; and in Pompeii, as 

 well as in other places. 



The complete outer lip of Cyprma tigris, a species 

 occurring in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, has been 

 recorded by J. R. le B. Tomlin, from a pre-historic pit- 

 dwelling at St. Mary Bourne, Hants.-" The same hand- 

 some species is recorded by M. Locard from the Gallo- 

 Roman necropolis of Trion, and by Monterosato from 

 Pompeii.''" Cyprcea pantherina, a Red Sea shell, has been 

 found in Saxon women's graves, excavated on Kingston 

 Down, and Sibertswold Down, in Kent,^' and in a grave 

 near Wingham, Kent.-' It has also been recorded (under 

 the name Cyprcea vinosd) by Dr. Ph. Dautzenburg from the 

 Franco-Merovingian necropolis of Nesles-lez-Verlincthun 

 (Canton de Samer).-" Dr. Dautzenburg also refers in the 

 same paper to a record by M. I'Abbe Henri Debout of the 

 presence of this shell (erroneously referred to C. arabicd) 

 in. a sepulchre at Tardinghen ; and from Dr. Tiberi's 

 Memoir on the shells met with in the excavations at 

 Pompeii,'™ we learn that many examples of this species 

 were found, and that the shell in question was an amulet 

 which the women carried in order to prevent sterility. 



In a footnote in Dr. Schneider's paper {pp. cit., p. n6), 

 reference is made to a description, by Dr. Koehl, of 

 Merovingian graves at Weisoppenheim, near Worms, 

 where cowries were found alongside the bodies of several 

 women, either hanging- from a girdle, or sewn to their 

 dresses. Unfortunately, the specific name of the shell is 



^" Jouiital of Cofichology, vol. 13, 1912, p. 251. 



-'^ fuU Tomlin, op. cit. 



-- Faussett's " Inventorium Sepulchrale," 1856, pp. 68, 92 & 133. (See 

 also J. W. Jackson, y«(r«. of Conch., vol. 13, 1912, p. 307, for discussion 

 of species). 



2s " Archieologia," vol. 30, p. 551. 



-° Journ. dc Conchyliologie, vol. liv., igo6, p. 260, figs, i & 2. 



"' " Le Conchiglie Ponipeiane," Napoli, 1879. 



