Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Cowry
COWRY, the English name of the
molluscous genus Cypræa. The money-cowry
is C. moneta, a native of the
Pacific and Eastern seas. Many tons are
annually shipped to Great Britain,
whence they are again taken as money to
be used in commercial transactions with
the tribes of western Africa. There is
another species, C. annulus, used locally
among the Eastern islands for the same
purpose.