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Capiz shell
Andaman Is.:
one pale surabajensis in the museum of Calcutta, sent to me for examination by Dr. Ray in 1957, it came from an old
collection, but the "A'' written originally on the base of the shell makes the correctness of indication rather probable.
Western Sumatra:
two typical walkeri collected in West Sumatra by Aurivillius in 1891, personally examined in the museum of Stockholm in 1957.
- These two areas close the gap between Lemuria and Malaysia.
North West Australia:
one shell (17 mm.) from Peak Is. in the Dampier Archipelago, collected by the Davina Expedition in 1960, presented me (coll.
Schilder No. 11862) by Ray Summers; some more specimens seem to have been collected in the Dampier Archipelago by this
expedition. Besides, walkeri has been mentioned from Nickol Bay by Brazier (1879, Journ. Conch. 2:321).
North Australia:
Yirrkala in Eastern Arnhem Land, according to Iredale (1939, Austr. Zoologist 9:299). - These two areas extend the occurrence
of walkeri to tropical Australia west of Torres Strait.
Aru Is.:
one shell (19 mm.) recalling the western walkeri has been collected by Merton in 1908, personally examined in the Senckenberg
museum in Frankfurt on Main, Germany. - This locality closes the gap between Misool (Schepman 1909, Siboga Exped. 49/2/2:133)
and Torres Strait (Brazier 1879). The indication "New South Wales'' by Iredale (1935, Austr. Zoologist 8:127) needs
confirmation, the southernmost reliable indication in East Australia seems to be Peel Is. in Moreton Bay.
Ryu-kyu Is.:
Kuroda (1960, Cat. Moll. Fauna Okinawa, p. 21) mentioned "walkeri surabajensis" from Okinawa Is.; the indication seems
correct, as P. W. Clover enumerated two specimens of walkeri from "South of Japan'' in a manuscript list of cowries preserved
in Japanese collections (communicated to the writer by Mr. Ray Summers in 1961).
Caroline Is.:
Recently Mr. C. N. Cate presented me two walkeri from Moen Is. in the Truk Is. (coll. Schilder No. 17135 and 17136); they
formerly belonged to a series of fifteen similar shells dredged by R. Willis in the harbour in January 1962. These two shells
are "pellucid" like the dead glossy cowries dredged in Honolulu harbour, and exhibit a similar white chalk in the aperture:
there, the conditions of preservation in the harbour of Moen Is. must be about equal to those in Honolulu. The specimens
undoubtedly belong to walkeri (surabajensis) and not to bregeriana: the discovery of this far-off population of walkeri in
the central Caroline Is. is not very surprising, as other typically Malayan cowry species also spread to western Micronesia,
e.g. Erronea ovum Gmelin and E. onyx Linnaeus to Palau and Guam respectively.
Northern Melanesia:
Mrs. K. Matcott of Mooloolaba, Queensland informed me by letter in March 1963, that she possesses a "surabajensis" from New
Britain; as I have never examined the shell personally, the reliability of this indication seems to need confirmation.
A comparison of specimens of C. chinensis from Philippines and Fiji are for the time being scientifically meaningless, as
only 2 specimens have been found in Fiji so far. However, it should be mentioned that these two specimens are as broad as
Philippines ones, are also calloused at the margins, denticulate on the fossula, have a curved posterior aperture, and the
marginal spots are deep violet. They agree with Cate's illustration of Hypotype No. 3 in The Veliger. I agree with Crawford
Cate that C. chinensis, sensu stricto can be easily separated from specimens of C. chinensis from Philippines (and at the
same time from specimens from Fiji, Australia and Mauritius on account of its rather elongated form, narrower width,
straighter aperture and consistently more numerous teeth. At the same time, however, specimens of violacea, variolaria,
sydneyensis and amiges show in actual fact so little difference and are so variable within each subspecies, that they could
be consolidated into one subspecies.
To sum up: The variation of C. chinensis known as amiges should never have been resurrected, because it does not have
sufficient and constant characteristics of its own to warrant separation. Specimens of amiges if unmarked and without
locality data attached, could not be separated from the (2) known Fiji specimens, nor from certain specimens from Mauritius.
It is interesting to note that certain species of Cypraea from the islands in the central Indian ocean bear a closer
resemblance to the same species from Melanesia and Polynesia, than they do to the same species in the Philippines and
Australia.
Synopsis: In the preceding two installments, I told of the first recorded microscopic examination made of the stomach of the
animal of Cypraea aurantium, by Dr. Alison Kay, General Science Dept., University of Philippines, how the shell had been
collected on order by F. E. Lahora off the Southern Philippines, and I attempted to establish the western and eastern limits
of the range of this species.
It might be well to state at this point that the information I am using was obtained in personal letters from collectors in
areas in question, in personal interviews, and from well-authenticated stories that appeared in the Philippines Shell News
during the last six or seven years.
In attempting to establish the northern and southern limits of the range of this shell, many inconsistencies develop which
have yet to be satisfactorily explained. Future researchers will probably settle this, but I believed that the ocean currents
and the physical contour of the ocean bottom may be the answer, as will be shown later. One fact, however, has been pretty
definitely established. It is that no Golden Cowries have ever been collected more than 13 degrees north or south of the
equator. It is believed that the temperature of the water is the controlling factor. If you are skeptical about this
statement, take a map of the Pacific Ocean and stick pins in all the localities where the Golden Cowry have been found and
the pattern will soon develop. There will be no pins either north or south of a strip centered on the equator and about 25
degrees wide.
But returning to the inconsistencies mentioned above, let's look at a few examples.
Why is C. aurantium not found in New Caledonia yet is collected in the Loyalty Islands less than 50 miles away? Why are they
not found in the New Hebrides even though these Islands lie almost on a line between Fiji and the Solomons, both of which are
known to produce them? Why are they not found in the Line Islands of Jarvis, Palmyra et al, which practically straddle the
equator? The temperature could hardly be a factor concerning them. These apparent exceptions will be discussed in detail
hereafter but I'll tell you now it is only one man's opinion and he's not a scientist!
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