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Cyprea onyx
Maldive Islands: in the year 1721 150 million C. moneta exported.
Philippines and Zanzibar: 1800 950 million C. moneta, 1858 1,000 million C. annulus, 1857 2,000 million C. annulus, 1868
1,300 million C. annulus, 1875 400 million C. annulus.
During the 19th century the export of annulus and moneta to West Africa according to available records totaled 75,000 million
(75 billion) specimens, which equaled in weight 115,000 tons. Adopting 4/5" as the average length for these species, all
cowries joined tail to front, would encircle the earth 37 times around the equator or reach 4 times the distance from the
earth to the moon. [The math is correct. Bob Dayle.] No Philippine or Zanzibar collector ever complained about the scarcity
of the two species in those regions. If we call 37 M. insularum "mass slaughter," what do we call this?
Most names, however, refer to the color of shells: the general aspect is indicated by the names adustaburned (brown),
albuginosawhitish, cinereaash gray, citrinalemon colored, exustaburned ("scorched" according to Reeve, brown),
fuscorubrabrownish red, helvolayellowish-red, isabellaisabel-yellow, luridalurid (pale), luteasaffron, pallidapale,
pallidularather pale (palish, as Gaskoin said), sanguinolentablood red (referring to the lateral spots), spadiceachestnut,
spurcadirty, subviridisrather green, viridicolorgreen colored.
Details in markings have been described by the names bicolortwo-colored, bistrinotatawith two times three spots,
contaminatadistained [sic], dorsalis(with a) dorsal (blotch), fimbriatafringed (by spots), fuscodentatawith brown teeth,
fuscomaculatawith a brown blotch (at the dorsum), guttataspotted, interrupta(zones) interrupted, labrolineatawith
(chestnut) lines on the lip, leucodonwhite tooth, maculiferabearing a blotch (on the inner lip), nigropunctatablack
spotted, ocellataeye-spotted, pictapainted, punctatadotted, quadrimaculatafour-spotted, tessellatacheckered,
xanthodonyellow tooth, ziczac**(barbarous word for) zigzag, zonariazoned.
Some similar names point to various objects which are said to recall the markings, as amphithales*surrounded by flowers
(spots), comma(with) comma(like spots), cribrariasieve-like, gangranosa*gangrenous (at the extremities), irroratabedewed
(the spots recall irroration), lentiginosascurvy, miliaris(finely spotted in a) millet-like (way), nivosa(with) snow-white
(spots), piperitapeppered (at the margins), porariaporous (spots recall pores), redimitacoronated (by lateral spots)
Other names remind the resemblance to non-conchological objects still more expressly: the adjectives achatidea*agate-like,
arabica(not coming from Arabia, but marked by) Arabian (letters), armeniaca(not coming from Armenia, but colored like the)
apricot (Prunus armeniaca), carneolacarnelian, eburneaivory-white, eglantina**eglantine (wild rose, or possibly a misprint
for elegantinaelegant), geographica(with markings like in a) geographical (map), staphylaeagrape-like,
stercorariadung-like.
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cyprea onyx
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