Cowries. 71 



markers or counters in social games; they are 

 generally white, in shape rather broad and flat, 

 being much spread out round the edges, which are 

 slightly puckered like frills. Here are two figures 

 of the shell, exhibiting the back and front view. 



On Plate VII. will be found a group of other 

 Foreign Cowries, most of which will be recognized 

 as familiar ornaments of the mantle and sideboard. 

 Fig. 1 is the Spotted or Leopard Cowry, sometimes 

 also called the Tiger Cowry (0. tigris), which, in 

 the earlier stages of its growth, is simply marked 

 with broad bands of lighter colour across the shell. 

 Fig. 2, the Map Cowry (0. mappa), curiously 

 marked and shaded so as to resemble a coloured 

 map ; there are several varieties of this beautiful 

 shell, such as the rosy and dark variety from the 

 Pearl Islands in the Indian Ocean ; the Citron and 

 Dwarf Rich-mouthed variety, from the Mauritius. 

 Fig. 3, the Mole Cowry (G. tal^d) y the last word 

 being the Latin for a mole, is of a more slender 

 form than most other species of the Cyprceidce 

 family, so called on account of their beauty — Cyjprea 

 being a name of Venus, the goddess of beauty. 

 Any one who has seen a mole, must be struck with 

 the resemblance of its general outline to this shell, 

 of which there is a darker-coloured variety of 



