Economic Uses of Shells, and their Inhabitants. 167 



were taken out. Heaps of broken shells of Murex trunculus, and 

 cauldron-shaped holes in the rocks, may still be seen on 

 the Tyrian shore. On the coast of the Morea there is similar 

 evidence of the employment of Murex Brandaris for the same 

 purpose. Many species of Purpurea likewise produce a fluid 

 which gives a dull crimson dye. 



One of the earliest uses to which the shells of mollusca 

 appear to have been applied was that of articles of dress. 



In M. M. Lartet and Christy's Reliquice Aquitanicos (Part iii. 

 August, 1866. B., PL v., figs. 15 — 20), we find illustrations of 

 several shells, viz., Cyprcea pi/rum, Pectunculus glycimeris, 

 Area Breislaki, which show clearly, by their having been 

 perforated, that they had been worn either as ornaments or 

 charms by the aborigines who inhabited the cavern of La 

 Madelaine. The custom of using shells, etc., as necklaces, or 

 other personal decorations, is common, not only amongst 

 savages, but even amongst civilized races at the present day.' 

 In this case the shells have been obtained not from sea or river, 

 but from, the Faluns of Touraine or Bordeaux, deposits of 

 Miocene age, rich in fossil marine shells, many of which are so 

 well preserved as to retain the glazed surface seen in recent 

 specimens. Dr. Fischer, of Paris, has determined as many as 

 five species in the caverns of Perigord. 



It is interesting to record, that in the cavern of Bruniquel, 

 department Tarne et Garonne, an Oolitic Belemnite, having its 

 sides squared by grinding, was found among the debris ; also' 

 an Ammonite and a Gryphcza, probably introduced by children 

 as toys. Perforated recent marine shells were likewise nume- 

 rous. These relics are preserved in the British Museum. 

 Shells are at the present day as greatly in demand for orna- 

 mental purposes as in pre-historic times-. 



The Chinooks of Oregon ornament their noses and ears 

 with shells of Dentalium. 



The Friendly and Fiji islanders wear the orange cowry 

 (Cyjrrce aurora) as a mark of chieftainship. 



The natives of Flinders Island and the New Zealander 

 polish the Elenchus into an ornament more brilliant than the 

 u pearl ear-drop n of classical or modern times. 



Cyproea shells are worn as a head-dress by the natives of 

 New Guinea. 



The time would fail in which to tell all the various methods 

 used in applying shells as ornaments to the head, dress, and 

 person. Every book of travels in Africa, America, or to the 

 South Sea Islands, teems with such illustrations. Nor does 

 India furnish an exception to the rule ; for there the female 

 children have their arms and ankles, from infancy, encircled 

 with broad shell- bands cut from the whorls of the great 



