|
|
Cowrie
Some relief from the depressing atmosphere came when, taking advantage of the delay, Stephen came across a cowrie walking up
the jetty pile. He brought it to me for identification at the rest house where we were drowning our sorrows. It was Cypraea
lamarcki. I had never found one before, but I knew that they were present on the West Coast. A few months earlier I had given
Alan Kohn and Joe Rosewater the map references where they had been reported off Penang. They had had no luck, and it was my
intention to make a trip there to see if I could find one. Now, here they were. Without waiting to put on swim trunks I was
down into the water, shirt, trousers, and all. I found some round the bottom of the piles, eight lamarcki and a lovely C.
onyx. The crew's entreaties for us to get under way prevented a more thorough search, so this was put off until our return.
An hour and a half later, in slightly better spirits we anchored in "Strombus Bay." We had previously given this name to a
lovely little cove in which there were thousand of Strombus luhuanus, a species without the black edge to the aperture. We
knew that there were also Chitton [?],Vassum, some achatinus cones and a few other items which we planned to take for several
collections and which we hoped to distribute to the Museums of Malaya. A little shelling in the evening revealed nothing new.
Apparently, it was going to be a five day camping holiday instead of a shelling expedition.
Low tide the next day was at about 10 o'clock and down it went, down, down, until it seemed that somebody had pulled the plug
out of the bottom of the ocean and laid out before us were acres and acres of wonderful coral making close investigation
easy. A much larger snorkeling territory was brought within our reach than would have been the case during high tide.
Aqualunging was still more or less out of the question as visibility below 15 feet was difficult. But there before us were
hours of work . . . Soon the specimens began to come to light, Conus achatinus, textile, Cypraea arabica, and other specimens
were found in habitats we had neglected before. Staghorn coral was found to be the hiding place of many shells so this lovely
coral took quite a beating, I am afraid. Being an old coral man from way back it always hurts me to spoil such lovely
formations.
After our first morning at the coral area, I had learned a lot more about shell habitats although the specimens I had brought
up were not particularly exciting. Meeting Jack on the way up the beach after the morning's labors, I knew from his remarks
that he had come up with something good. His remark, "You are going to split when you see what I have in my bag," was a sure
indication that he had found a good specimen. It was a beautiful large Conus striatus which Jack had never collected before.
He had already uncovered several Conus achatinus and textile, and a fine Cypraea caurica in this area. Night shelling on the
rocks was fun, too, as it was incredible to see so many different species feeding alongside each other, and the Chitton [?]
were all out from their crevices making it very easy to collect these strange creatures. Night snorkeling was not too good
because the water was still some what cloudy.
So the time was not wasted, after all. Another look at the Johnston dredging next morning yielded Cypraea erosa, moneta,
nucleus, depressa, vitellus, schilderorum , caputserpentis, and a fresh fragment of Cypraea sulcidentata and two more Cypraea
tessellata. I was surprised by the few shells of any species that were in those dredgings. A bag full were brought back to
the Bishop Museum. It is interesting that the Cypraea schilderorum were so short and fat that the width nearly equaled the
length. A great opportunity for the "Splitters"!
Shelling being what it was, when an opportunity came to return to Honolulu on January 13, it was as eagerly grabbed as was
the chance to go to Johnston Island in the first place. The reason for this quick return is still another story! I may return
for a few days in about a month, but I surely will leave my heavy aqualung equipment at home. After all, we have not yet
visited the outer reef, but a snorkel, mask and flippers will suffice. A shell collector never knows when he is licked!
When Dr. Tucker Abbott identified the specimen of Atys for me, he stated in his letter: "This is Atys naucum colour form
ferruginosa A. Adams believe it or not."
From personal experience in Fiji, it appears that the colour form ferruginosa is a separate species, for reasons detailed
below.
Apart from the larger size of the typical A. naucum in Fiji, A. naucum s. str. has latitudinal striae from top to bottom,
whereas A. ferruginosa has about 14 striae on top and 14 striae on the bottom, with the central area completely smooth. A.
naucum is fully white, and A. ferruginosa is a translucent greyish-white, with about 9 reddish-brown, wavy longitudinal lines
on the body-whorl. Most important of all, they live in the same localities, on sand in shallow water. No hybrids were
recorded, which would be expected if they were to belong to the same species. The absence of intergrades between the two
forms leaves no doubt about the valid specific separation of Atys ferruginosa.
Editor: Pilsbry* said this: "Bulla ferruginosa Gmelin (Syst. Nat. 13, p. 3432) is a young Cypraea so that A. Adams' form
requires a new name. It may be called Atys naucum strigata. The habitat is unknown." The preceding quote would indicate that
some further nomenclatural work is required before we know what name to apply to the fig. 1 shell.
* Proc. Acad. Sci. Phila., 1917, p. 217.
Leaving Jolo City, I arrived at Zamboanga City in S.W. Mindanao where I did not expect the shell collecting to be quite as
good as Jolo. Joe Abanales, the manager of Rocan Shell Shop, met me at the airport and was a wonderful host during my stay.
He arranged all of my diving trips in the area and provided me with transportation and hotel reservations in town as well.
I spent my first day or so visiting all the shell collectors and dealers in Zamboanga and getting a tour of the area, as it
has quite a historical back ground from the days of the Spanish and Moro settlers during the 1500-1800 centuries. I stayed et
the Bayot Hotel located on the beach overlooking the Santa Cruz Islands where I planned to go shelling. Mrs. King and her
boat M.V. Pele anchored in front of the hotel and they came in for dinner. I met them all including Dr. Richert, Dr. Wilson
and my good friend Fernando Dayrit. They had been dredging their way down from Cebu Is. Fernando said they had made some
exciting finds with the dredge in about 30-40 fms. including many of the Japanese Latiaxis that were not believed to come
from the P. I. at all! From Zamboanga they plan to leave within the week for the Jolo and Siasi area.
cowrie,cyprea pappa,shells bracelet,cockle,white shell,hair accessory,decoration,m.o.p ornament,shells jewelry,cowrie
Cowrie blacklip puka shell jewelry shell fashion shells jewelries philippine shells cyprea vitilus shell inlay shell tiles earings lampshade troca strawberry nautilus m.o.p spondylus orange shells beads luhuanus mitra - mitra white.
cowrie
Shells
Jewellery
|
