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Coco shell
In the same issue, Eugene Coan starts an account of the Mollusca of the Santa Barbara County area, by listing the Pelecypoda
and Scaphopoda, with notes and bibliography. A series of excellent plates are given showing the fine structure of the
follicle gland of the freshwater snail, Lumnaea auricularia, found near Concord, California, the work of Richard S. Nishioka,
Leonard Simpson, and Howard A. Bern. The gastropod known as Murex rhyssa Dall is renamed Pteropupurata vokesae by William K.
Emerson. Nettie and George E. MacGinitie describe the habitats and breeding seasons of the shelf limpet, Crepidula
norrisiarum Williamson, with a plate showing it growing on Norrisia norrisi (Sowerby). Franz Alfred Schilder presents a
provisional classification of the genus Notocypraea, a cowry found in Tasmania. Myra Keen and Bruce Campbell describe ten new
species of Typhinae from Japan, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia. There are also other papers, notes,
news, and reviews. The Editorial Board reads like an impressive 'Who's who' on Pacific Coast Mollusca.
Since joining the H. M. S. about a year ago I have been most interested in reading the H. S. N. and enjoy the accounts of
shelling in Philippines. I wonder if your readers would be interested in hearing about shelling in the Florida Keys. Our
group here in Fort Myers shells regularly at nearby Punta Rassa, Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Beach. But our favorite spot now
is in the Marathon area in the Florida Keys, about 250 miles from Fort Myers.
A malacological milestone was reached on October 6, 1962. For on that day, the first recorded microscopic examination was
made of the stomach of a Golden Cowry (Cypraea aurantium Gmelin), by Dr. Alison Kay, a marine biologist connected with the
Science Department of the University of Philippines. The specimen used was practically collected "On Order" by Mr. Francisco
E. Lahora, of Manay, Davao Province, Southern Philippines, and sent here for that purpose. The reason to find out what
Golden Cowries feed on.
More than a year ago, in conversation with Dr. Kay, she told us that there was no record that she could find concerning the
food of the Golden Cowry. Principle reason, she thought, was that so few were ever taken alive.
We recalled that when Mr. Lahora registered eight Golden Cowries several years ago (printed in the Sean Raynon Sabado at the
time) he had said that he, with his godson as diver, had collected these shells in slightly less than two years at Manay,
facing the Pacific in the Southern Philippines. Maybe he was still finding them. Maybe he could find one for Dr. Kay. So we
wrote Mr. Lahora. He answered that his godson, who was his diver, had gone to Cebu to visit relatives and he did not know
when he would return. Things did not look very promising, but on April 5th, 1962 we wrote Mr. Lahora another letter outlining
at some length the lack of any definite knowledge about the Golden Cowry, especially its food. We suggested that if and when
his godson returned from Cebu, they could make a great contribution to the sparse knowledge about this shell, if they could
find one, and ship it in alcohol to Dr. Kay, care of the Science Department of the University of Philippines. We also
specified that if possible the cowry should be collected late at night or early in the morning, so that it would have
finished its daily feeding and would have a full stomach for Dr. Kay to examine the contents of.
Well, here's what happened although we did not hear about it until long afterwards. The godson came back from Cebu, and night
after night during most of May, 1962, and part of June, they went out late at night, Mr. Lahora manning the boat, and the
godson diving and looking for that Golden Cowry. Finally on June 12 at 11:00 P.M. they found it. Apparently the shell had
taken its evening meal, and gone to bed in a little cave in the coral where the diver found it. It was immediately placed in
alcohol, from which it was not taken until it reached Dr. Kay's lab. Many more interesting details about this hunt for the
Golden Cowry may be read in Mr. Lahora's letter which is primed belong:
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