CYPRiEA 



TESTA ovata, vel ovato-oblonga, ventricosa; 

 apertura longitudinalis, angustata, utrinque 

 dentata, extremitatibus utrinque breviter cana- 

 liferis, subelFusis. Spira brevis, obtecta. 



The Cowries are perhaps equal, at least they do not yield 

 in point of beauty to the Cones and Volutes; but as there 

 is not a great number of rare species they are not so 

 highly valued : there is, however, one circumstance con- 

 nected with their general history which renders them one 

 of the most interesting of all genera, and which cir- 

 cumstance does not appear to have been satisfactorily 

 accounted for; we advert to the fact, that young Cowries 

 which have formed their involute outer lip are generally 

 larger than when they are full grown and have completed 

 their shell. It is to be regretted that Bruguiere should 

 have been prevented by a premature death from publish- 

 ing the evidence he possessed, that the animal of the 

 Cypraea, before it arrived at its complete growth, aban- 

 dons its shell several times, to form another more fitted 

 to its dimensions. Our own opinion upon the subject is, 

 that the animal may have the power of absorbing the 

 calcareous matte;*, and redepositing it of a form and size 

 more congenial to its own increased or decreased bulk : 

 and this opinion does not iippear to us at all inconsistent 

 with Bruguieres idea of the shell being always formed at 

 two distinct periods, though we confess that we do not 

 conceive the necessity of two distinct periods for the 

 formation of the shell, either of Cyprcea, Oliva, or Margi- 

 nella, any more than we do of that of Bulla, and other 

 genera, whose mantle either constantly covers the out- 

 side of the shell, or is divided so as to envelope it at the 



