'I’he platupalists’ Companion. 
35 Cents per 
Aiiimin. 
CHARLES P. GUELF, 
EDITOR .-. AND .•. rUBLISIIER. 
Single Copy, 
5 Cents. “ 
VOL. I. 
BROCKPORT, N. Y., APRIL, 1886. 
NO. 10. 
Spring. 
Spring approaches, hail collectors. 
Hail from South,from East and West, 
I'or the season now approaches 
Which collectors love the best. 
Bring the knapsack from its recess; 
Fill it now with treasures rare. 
Clamber ledges, follow gullies. 
Walking while the day is fair. 
Eggs of species rare and common, 
Gather, blow, prepare and rest 
In the dainty cotton spaces, 
Resting in their tiny nest. 
Mosses, ferns and ocean wonders, 
Crystals bright of various metals. 
Dainty flowers in varying colors. 
Resting in their tiny petals. 
These and more are precious treasures 
To the true collector’s mind : 
Gathered in the realms of nature. 
Ever present to remind. 
Ernest Einwood, 
The Money Cowrie. 
(CYPR/EA MQNETA.) 
RY S. JACOB, NEWPORT, R. I. 
The money cowrie of Guinea is very 
common on the Indian and Africa coasts; 
and is used in certain i)arts of Africa as 
a circulating medium ; it is also employ¬ 
ed for the same i)urpose in Hindoostan, 
])articularly at Calcutta, where great 
(juantities are obtained from the inhabi¬ 
tants of the Maidive Islands, in exchange 
for rice. Many tons of these cowries 
are annually shipped ’ from England to 
Cruinea ; these being originally brought 
from the Maidive Islands to Bengal, and 
fi om thence sen t to England. The value 
of these shells as a circulating medium 
de])ends naturally enough on their great¬ 
er or less abundance. In Bengal, in 
general, from 2,000 to 2,400 are equal 
in value to about fifty cents. But in 
Africa they are much deared, about 250 
being valued at fifty cents. By dipping 
this shell for about thirty seconds in 
muriatic acid and then in cold water a 
most beautiful blue color will be found 
under the first or yellow coat, and on 
this account they are now being carved 
in Rome. The yellow coating being 
the head of the cameo and the blue lor 
a background. By putting a letter or. 
figure on the shell with wax before dip¬ 
ping in the acid, you will find when 
taken out whatever you have put oh the 
shell in bold relief. The cowrie shells 
are found of three different forms,accord¬ 
ing to its age. There are some two 
hundred sjjecies of the cowrie shell, and 
is scientifically described as follows : 
( 3 val, convex very smooth, involuble ; 
spiie entirely posterior, very small often 
concealed by a calcareous layer deposit¬ 
ed by the lobes of the mantle; aiierture 
longitudinal, very narrow, slightly artic¬ 
ulated, as long as the, shell, and with the 
edges internally dentated and notched 
at each extremity. Inhabits the West 
Indian seas, Sandwich Islands, etc. 
Vanadium is valued at vS^io,oo per lb. 
