MALABAR TIGER SHELL. 
1 HE name of the Malabar "i'iger, we have 
selcclcd from Knorr, with his tine figure of 
this shell. We say^ selected; because he gives 
IKS no less than three synonimes : these are, the 
Giant's Ear, the Tiger of Malabar, and tlie 
Speckled Snake. The latter name, however, 
is more particularly applied to a smaller va- 
riety of this species; which he has afterwards 
figured, and which is very differently marked. 
Of the present Shell, his description is as fol- 
lows — It is," he says, " of the very nu- 
merous class of Alykruikeni or C ruches a 
Huile — that is, of Oil Jars, or Tuns — as they 
are denominated ; and which belong to the 
Escargots, or Snails, properly so called. The 
Malabar 1^'gcr is named, by some, the Giant's 
BriV.iant Ear, or the Skin of the Speckled 
Snake. It is a very thick shell ; having the 
aperture in the form of an ear, and covered 
with the lustre of Mother of Pearl. This 
lustre pervades, also, the sides of the whirls, 
where there is a ground in itself brilliant, and 
as black as ebony. This black colour loses 
itself in the upper s])ires, and all the superior 
pans 
