UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. ; 445 
white, ornamented with numerous broad, black, round spots, much 
scattered, and a straight dorsal line, brown above, and very white 
“bin 
Fig. 270,—Natural size of Ovulum oviformis (Lamarck). 
t ‘ 
below. It has generally twenty-three teeth on each edge, quite white. 
Somewhat resembling the Tiger Cowrie is the Cypr@a pantherina 
(Fig. 269), which is perhaps a variety of the same species. Another 
remarkable species is Cyfr@ argus, as represented in 
Figs. 253 and 254. _ 
The genus Ovu/um, so called from their egg-shaped 
form, occupy. a place next to the Cowries in some 
systems. ‘The shell is highly polished, white or rose- 
coloured, oblong or oval, convex, attenuate, and acu- 
minate at the extremities without apparent spire, the 
edges milled within the long, narrow, and curved open- ; 
ing, with teeth upon the left edge, and with a few Ootes aes 
ripples on the right edge. The species of Ovulum are (Lamarck). 
inhabitants of the Indian Ocean and Chinese Seas. , 
Some few species, however, belong to the Mediterranean and the 
Black Sea. The three species represented in Figs. 270, 271, and 
272, present very singular contrasts of form and size. 
The second family, Volutide, contains the. genera Cymba, Mar- 
ginedla, Mitra, and Voluta. ; 
The Mitres are so called from their resemblance to the bishop’s 
