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Cowries — Part 3

Habitat.--Fiji Islands, Solomon Islands, Loyalty Islands. Permission to wear an orange cowry as an ornament is a mark of the highest distinction granted among Friendly Islanders. Shells punctured with a hole in the back, occasionally seen in collections, have been worn, and are for this reason considered especially valuable.

For many years collectors had to pay excessive prices for these rare shells. The especial regard in which they were held by natives of the islands prevented their dispersal to other countries. An occasional traveller got hold of one for $25. Now perfect ones may be had for $20, says Mr. Campbell in the Nautilus, 1889. Unlike some more abundant species, they are obtained from deep water outside the reefs, which fact in itself should account for their scarcity and high price.

The Map Cowry (C. mappa, Linn.) is marked lengthwise with a broad zigzag line of pale chestnut from the angles of which side branches go off alternately from left to right, singly or in twos. This band is approximately median, and marks the meeting place of the two lobes of the mantle. The back is covered with fine waving chestnut lines running lengthwise. These have scattered spots of pale chestnut which become more numerous toward the pale violet-tinged, almost colourless base.

The usual habit among cowries is to reserve the bright pattern and colouring characteristics of the species until just before the shell is full-grown, then to lay it on, covering up the bands and waves of colour that previously alternated with the white layers. In C. mappa there are two final coats of the same pattern laid one upon the other. Length, 2 to 3 1/2 inches.

Habitat.--Indian Ocean.

The Spotted Cowry (c. guttata, Gray) is a rare and beautiful species which we are doomed to know only through pictures, unless we visit the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, the British Museum or the Museum of Leyden. A very few specimens exist in private collections in Europe. The price of this shell has reached the highest mark in the genus. In 1866 one sold for pound 42. Two I know of in this country. One is in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, the other in the collection of Mr. Richey of Boston.

The base is crossed by close sharp ridges which round the margin, and come up a little way on the sides, giving the shell a crimped border all around. This border forms a recurved flange. The back of the shell is orange-brown with pale spots of varying sizes. The cross ridges are bright orange red, giving the base and border a striking colour contrast. Length, 2 1/2 inches.

Habitat.--Red Sea, New South Wales. The Prince Cowry (C. princeps, Gray) was long known only by a solitary specimen in the British Museum. This was a superb shell, thinner than other cowries, very much swollen in the middle, and elevated, sloping steeply to the base on all sides. The yellow ground colour of the back shades into pink, as it descends to the colourless base. A patch of brownish wavy lines like closely written characters occupies the middle of the back. A squarish blotch of darker brown stands on either side of this middle patch. The sides are spotted. The extremities have three concentric brown lines. The base and teeth are white.

The first specimen was found in a private collection; it was labelled "The Brindle Cowry of the Persian Gulf." No further history of its has ever come to light. A second was found on the southern shore of New Guinea. It is very high priced. Mr. McCoy of Chicago has the only one I know of in America.

The White-tooth Cowry (C. Leucodon, Brod.) ranks with it in rarity and value. The sole specimen known is in the British Museum.

The Tiger Cowry (C. tigris, Linn.) achieves its handsome mottled shell colouring by a devious and interesting process. First it is a uniform chestnut bay; the colour then breaks up into bands of close-set wave blotches of a richer hue; a coating of white is then superimposed, and upon that is deposited a series of rather distant zigzag flames. The rich colouring of the first state is concealed. In the next state a second layer of white is superimposed and upon this surface a number of dark spots are deposited. These are again overspread by a third white coating intermixed with numerous rich black and brown spots.--Reeve.

The animal of Cypraea tigris has more colours than the shell. A naturalist who collected specimens from three to five inches long off Cook's Island described the body with some minuteness. The upper surface of the foot is dark brown marbled with black and streaked with fawn colour. The sole is purple, shaded with brown, and veined with black. Head, siphon and tentacles, are gray. The mantle is creamy yellow, with scattered brown spots, and longitudinally veined with brown. The mantle fringe is amber, tipped with white.