444 _THE OCEAN WORLD, 
little oval shell, depressed, flat below, with very thick edges and 
slightly waving. _ It is of a uniform yellowish-white colour, sometimes 
citron-yellow-above and white below. There are usually twelve teeth 
in the outer lip of the adult shell. It comes from the Indian Ocean, 
the Maldivian Isles, and the Atlantic Ocean. 
This shell, so common in collections, 
is gathered by the women on the shore of 
the Maldivian Isles, three days after the 
full moons and before the new moons; it 
is afterwards transported to Bengal, to 
India, and Africa, where it is used by the 
negroes and other natives as money. 
The Madagascar Cowrie, Cyprea Ma- 
dagascariensis (Fig. 263), and the Granular 
Pica: wereegees Cowrie, Cyprea nucleus (Figs. 267 and 
Cypreea nucleus (Linnzus). 268), are beautifully marked species, 
having the general appearance of being 
mammillated all over. 
The species most abundant in the 
British seas is the little Cyprwa (Trivia) 
curopea, already mentioned ; it is very 
small, oval, tun-bellied, the opening dilated 
in front with smooth transverse stripes of 
greyish, tawny, or rose-colour, with or 
without spots. 
Cypraa mappa (Fig. 249) is oval- 
shaped, swelling below its sides, well- 
rounded, ornamented with small white 
spots below, with a dorsal branching line 
above ; the interior is violet colour, with 
thirty-six teeth on one side, and forty-two 
on the other. It is met with in the Indian 
Ocean. 
The Harlequin Cowne, Cyprea histrio 
(Figs. 250 and 251), from the coast of Mada- 
gascar, is ornamented with white spots very 
closely arranged, and much circumscribed 
above, with black spots upon the sides. The under side is violet. 
A very fine species, which is very common in collections, is found 
in the Indian Ocean, from Madagascar to the Moluccas—the Tiger 
Cowrie, Cyprea tigris, already figured with the animal. The shell 
(Fig. 252) is large, oval, tun-bellied, thick, and convex, of a bluish 
Fig. 269. 
Cyprzea pantherina (Sol.) 
