336 
GASTKKOI'ODA. - 
-AIOLLUSOA.- 
-Kostkifera. 
and black tipped tentacles, gives it a very peculiar 
appearance. 
Family— C ypR^lD^ {Cowries). 
The family of Cowries which come next in order, 
like tlie preceding, have the mantle of the adult animal 
expanded, and generally reflexed over 
the shell, giving it a fine polished appear- 
ance. The foot is simple, and there is 
no operculum. The lobes of the mantle 
are often ornamented externally with 
forked or pointed beards or filaments, and 
the end of the siphon with which it is 
furnished is frequently fimbriated. The 
shell is involute, ventricose, with a linear 
mouth, toothed lips, and the canal 
recurved like a notch. The surface is 
of a porcellanous structure, and there is 
no appearance of an epidermis. The 
family, indeed, is remarkable for the 
e.xquisite beauty of the shells, as well as 
their inhabitants. The great majority 
are natives of tropical regions, delighting in warm 
climates; and, as they glide along among the coral 
reefs, and in the shelter of rocks, with the lateral 
lobes of their mantles adorned with showy colours, they 
present to the eye of the pleased spectator objects of 
singular interest and beautjn They are shy creatures, 
and crawl slowly. “The difference of aspect,” says 
Professor Forbes, “between these mollusks when 
crawling, with all the beautifully-coloured soft parts 
exposed, often completely concealing their enamelled 
shells, and their appearance when, after being seized, 
they suddenly and instantaneously withdraw their 
bodies and mantle lobes, and. expose the’shell only, is 
very curious and surprising.” Individuals of the same 
species vary greatly in size — a difference so great that 
it has been attempted to be explained b}'^ the theory 
that the animals shed their shells as lobsters do their 
skins. This, however, is not the case, for we often 
find young shells much larger than adult specimens in 
the same species. In the young state, they are also 
very dissimilar in form from the adults, and thus mis- 
takes have been often made with regard to species. 
Genus Cypraia.— This genua, as now restricted, 
contains some of the handsomest, largest, and most 
valuable of all the Cowries. The Orange Cowry, for 
instanee, at one time fetched an enormous sum for a 
single specimen. It is a native of the South Pacific 
ocean, and is worn as an ornament by the natives of 
the Polynesian islands. “ The highest order of dignity 
among the Friendly Islanders is the permission to 
wear the Orange Cowry.” — {Johnston.) There are 
one or two species in the collection of the British 
Museum, the specimens of which are unique — such, 
for example, is the Cyprcea leucodon. 
THE C. PRINCEPS is perhaps the most beautiful of 
all the Cowries. It is also exceedingly rare, only two 
other specimens being known besides the splendid one 
in the National collection. 
THE TIGER COWRY {Cyprcea tigris) is one of the 
most common, but at the same time a very beautiful 
species — fig. 219. It is a thick, oval, and swollen shell, of 
a bluish-white, dotted with a great number of rounded 
scattered, black spots, and a dorsal line of ferrugin 
ous colour above, and very white beneath. It is t 
native of the Indian seas from Madagascar to the 
Moluccas. 
Other fine species are the Map Cowry {C. mnppd). 
Fig. 219. 
Cyprsea tigris (Tiger Cowry). 
and the Blotched or Spotted Cowry {C. guttata), 
specimens of which have lately sold for £40. 
Genus Aricia. — This genus contains several elegant 
and beautiful species; but perhaps the one of greatest 
notoriety is the Money Cowry {Cyprcea moneta). It 
is a small, oval, depressed, and somewhat noduled 
shell, flat and white beneath, with thick edges, and of 
a yellowish -white or pale citron colour on the upper 
surface. It inhabits the Pacific ocean and the Indian 
seas fromhhe Moluccas to the Atlantic ocean. “Many 
tons weight of this little shell are annually imported 
into this country, and again exported for barter with 
the native tribes of Western Africa. In the year 1848 
sixt}' tons of the Money Cowry were imported into 
Liverpool ; and in 1849 nearly three hundred tons 
were brought to the same place, according to the 
statement of Mr. Archer in the Industrial Exhibition.” 
( Woodward). This little shell, as well as the C. asellus, 
a small white-coloured shell, with three dark bands 
running across the upper surface, is extensively used 
as current coin in India. We have often seen the 
two species used indiscriminately in the villages m 
Bengal . 
Genus Cypr.eovula. — This genus contains few 
species the most remarkable being the Cyprcea. umhi- 
licata. A specimen of this shell, in the collection of 
the British Museum, was long considered unique. A 
few years ago two additional specimens were sent to 
this country by Mr. Ronald Gunn from Van Diemen’s 
Land, which were valued at about £35 a-piece. A 
few more specimens having since then been imported 
from the same locality, their value has been in conse- 
quence very much reduced. 
Genus Trivia. — The genus Trivia, or Pig-shell, 
contains a number of small shells of a sub-globose 
figure, and generally ribbed across the back. The 
species are about thirty in number, and are widely 
distributed, inhabiting Greenland, Great Britain, the 
We.st Indies, South Africa, Australia, the Pacific, 
and Western America. “Our native Cowry {Trivia 
