Beauty and Value of Shells. 11 



guineas; while the Cyprcea aurantium, or Orange 

 Cowry, if it has not a hole beaten through it, will 

 fetch fifty guineas. It has been calculated that a 

 complete collection of British Conchology is worth 

 its weight in silver. 



The following quotation is from " The Young 

 Conchologist," by Miss Roberts. Our readers will 

 do well to peruse it attentively : — " We admit that 

 shells are beautiful, and that they are admirably 

 adapted to the exigencies of the wearers ; but how 

 shall we account for the endless diversity of shades 

 and colours, varying from the sober coating of the 

 garden snail to the delicate and glowing tints which 

 are diffused over some of the finer species, in the 

 infinite profusion of undulations, clouds, and spots, 

 bands and reticulated figures, with which these 

 admirable architects enrich the walls of their 

 beautiful receptacles, The means of producing 

 them must be sought for in the animals themselves. 

 Their necks are furnished with pores replete with 

 colouring fluid, which blends insensibly with the 

 calcareous exudation already noticed, and thus 

 occasions that exquisite variety in their testaceous 

 coverings, which art attempts to emulate, but can 

 never fully equal. Thus far is the result of obser- 

 vation and experiment. It now remains to account 



