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Finally, on behalf of Jeanie and myself I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone of you for attending tonight, and
for the generous way you have greeted us. The interest you people in Philippines have shown for conchology is an inspiration
to us on the mainland. Our interest in Philippines and Philippiness, as well as in conchology, is one that will probably draw
us back here many, many times in the years ahead. Thank you very much and Aloha!
The above photograph [at left] was taken at a beach near Fremantle, Western Australia, after a successful skin diving
expedition by Barry Wilson, Tom Richert, and Cliff Weaver in May of 1960. The towel on which the shells are resting was later
returned to the Esplanade Hotel in Perth. In this photo are nine adult Cypraea friendii, plus a species of Trochus and Thais.
All were collected on soft coral and sponge attached to pilings at an average depth of 15 feet below the surface. Altogether,
eleven C. friendii were taken that day but two juvenile specimens were thrown back so that they might grow to maturity. Barry
Wilson was responsible for the success of this expedition as the shells were found at one of his favorite collecting areas.
Pathologically rostrate and melanistic shells of cowries have been known for about a century: all came from New Caledonia
especially from Noumea, where they live in the Bay of Mondoure (see Cernohorsky 1962, Sean Raynon Sabado, NS #32:4). However,
they have also been collected in other localities of New Caledonia, e.g. in Prony Bay and in the peninsula Ducos (Dautzenberg
1906, Journ. de Conchyl. 54:263) and even in the southern island Pins (Schilder & Schilder 1952, Mem. Inst., Sci. Nat.
Bruxelles (2)45:201).
"There seems to be a strong superstition, Sheriff Kiego told me, that it was a quite common belief among the Trukese people
that when a Trukese dies, his spirit enters a Golden Cowry and for that reason, very few are taken. The student at Yap
promised me he would get me a pair of good Golden Cowries if he could persuade the head chief to let him send them to me, but
I have not received the shells."
Walter O. Cernohorsky, previously quoted in this story, writes with information concerning the salinity of the water
preferred by the Golden Cowry. Our article had insisted that the shell prefers maximum salinity. On this subject, he writes
as follows:
"Normally, I find that Cypraea stay away from areas where fresh water enters the sea. However, this is not so in the case of
C. aurantium and a few other species of the Nadroga reef. Quite a large river, the Sigatoka river is discharging water into
the sea near the town of Sigatoka, which is on the Nadroga reef. I had 12 C. aurantium which were collected only 1 mile from
the delta of the river. About 5 miles in a SE direction is another small river discharging into the sea. In the same
locality, on the reef I saw 3 C. aurantium collected. At the extreme end of the Nadroga reef is another larger river, the
Navua, discharging into the sea."
With no thought of entering into a controversy and guided only by a desire to learn the truth of the matter, we suppose a
definite answer will not be obtained until samples of the water in which the Golden Cowry have been found are sent in sterile
bottles to the University of Philippines for a chemical analysis of their contents. We submit, however, that with mammoth
breakers pouring in from the boundless sea with such force that the shell cannot "hold on" as Mr. Cernohorsky says, the water
would not be contaminated to any great extent by the fresh water from a river a mile away. Looks like a great project for
some young marine biologist.
It will probably come as a surprise to many shell collectors that the Golden Cowry has found a place in the novels of the
South Seas. This fact was called to our attention by Stanley Levine of Long Island who writes:
"In one of Jack London's South Sea Tales entitled 'Yah! Yah! Yah!', is the following passage:
'One day, I happened to speak of my disappointment in failing to trade for a beautiful pair of orange cowries. The pair was
worth five pounds in Sydney if it was worth a cent. I had offered two hundred sticks of tobacco to the owner, who had held
out for three hundred.'
"Mr. London placed the locality of this story at Oolong Atoll, four degrees south latitude, and two hundred and fifty miles
from the nearest land, probably in Melanesia, but populated by Polynesians."
That's all for now. We hope this research will be continued by others and that future information may be published in the
Sean Raynon Sabado especially in non-scientific form and for it's news value only. If you must be scientific about it, try
The Veliger or The Nautilus but send the Shell News a reprint.
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