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Jewelry shell
Area 1 is noted mainly for Cypraea tigris. However, I have collected two Conus retifer both dead, one in fair and one in
excellent condition. The area is basically a submerged coral reef with intermittent sand channels through which water, washed
up on the reef by the ocean swells, flows back to sea. On top of the coral, usually in ten to fifteen feet of water, will be
found Cypraea tigris. In the deeper coral areas along the slopes of the reef will be found the cones and other species listed
for this area:
Conus ebraeus 15 feet.
Conus flavidus 15 to 20 feet.
Conus abbreviatus 15 to 20 feet.
Cypraea leviathan 10 feet.
Cypraea mauritiana 20 to 25 feet.
Latirus nodus In sand, most depths.
Turbo intercostalis On rocks, 20 feet.
Trochus intextus On coral heads, 20 feet.
Peristernia chlorostoma Coral, all depths.
Area 2 is what divers call the drop-off. The shallow, or inshore, side of the drop off is usually a fairly flat coral plain
with intermittent live coral heads and scattered dead coral rubble. Down the rather steep slopes of the drop-off will be
found live coral heads of medium size. Also there are places in this area where the drop off is a sheer cliff with occasional
under water caves and tubes complete with stacks in the back through which a diver can shoot rapidly with the incoming surge
of an ocean swell. At the base of the cliff or slope will be found a sandy bottom with broken coral washed down from the
slope or huge chunks broken off from the cliff. This sandy bottom slopes out gradually to a second drop-off in 120 feet of
water after which the bottom slopes rather abruptly into deep water.
In the Museum of Vienna there is a teulerei labeled "Eden" which word may be understood as Aden misspelled in a German way
according to the pronunciation, and in coll. Lancaster (Lyme Regis, England) I saw a teulerei labeled Arabian Sea, which
locality also has been mentioned by Melvill (1888, Mem. Manchester Soc. (4)1:239).
Therefore the distribution of teulerei seems to coincide with that of Luria pulchra Gray and Erosaria turdus Lamarck. Both
occur from the Red Sea around Arabia to the Persian coast. But the indication Zanzibar (British Museum and Mus. Berne),
Ceylon (Hidalgo), Australia (Mus. Hamburg, destroyed in World War II), and New Zealand (habitat rejected by Hidalgo) are
evidently erroneous as such relics use[d] to be restricted to small areas in present times.
THE CYPRAEIDAE OF FIJI
The April 1964 issue of The Veliger (Vol. 6, No. 4) devotes 25 pages and six plates to a detailed review and description of
Fijian cowries, by Walter Oliver Cernohorsky, of Vatukoula, Fiji. By way of introduction, he reviews the geography of Fiji,
with a map; and discusses habitat and variation, the animal, which is included in descriptions, the classification, methods
and observations, end distribution. Then follows the description of and notes on 57 species of Cypraea: testudinaria,
isabella, arabica, maculifera, depressa, eglantina, scurra, mappa, mauritiana, aurantium, argus, talpa, tigris, lynx,
vitellus, ventriculus, carneola, schilderorum, mariae, globulus, bistrinotata, cicercula, margarita, childreni, annulus,
moneta, dillwyni, labrolineata, helvola, caputserpentis, poraria, erosa, eburnea, limacina, staphylaea, nucleus, walkeri,
errones, caurica, listeri, punctata, asellus, clandestina, humphreysii, ziczac, fimbriata, minoridens, microdon, pallidula,
summersi, teres, kieneri, hirundo, ursellus, stolida, chinensis, cribraria.
Five more are noted as having been reported from Fiji. A number of papers are cited. Figures are given of all 57 species,
together with generous discussion, and an alphabetical index, with mention of subgenus.
It is interesting to note that Franz Alfred Schilder and Maria Schilder, in the same issue of The Veliger (pages 221-226 with
a map of Viti Levu, Fiji) give details concerning one of these species, listed by Cernohorsky, Mauritia eglantina. Notes
include distribution, frequency, sex, size, dentition, color, dorsal markings, spire blotch, shell abnormalities, and notes
on rows and teeth, and comparisons.
There are other articles of interest in the issue, including another new species of Mitra from the Western Indian Ocean
described by Jean M. Cate and named Mitra boswellae for HMS member Mrs. Helen Boswell.
One fine morning, I landed in Sydney, three days after I had sailed from Noumea. Four hours later, I was in the plane on my
way to Brisbane and Rockhampton, where Tony Marsh, the well known Australian cone expert met me at the airport. We enjoyed a
whole week trading shells, swapping yarns and information, and meeting other shells collectors of that interesting area.
After a last hop of twelve hundred miles over the clouds of North Queensland, I landed on Horn Island, where I met my pen
friend Reg Scott, with whom I was going to stay for three months on Thursday Island, which is the only populated area of this
desert Territory. From Cape York peninsula, one could walk or sail down either East or West coasts for hundreds of miles
without meeting a soul, a house or a boat. That part of the Gulf and Barrier Reef are truly virgin.
We only began to do any shelling a few days later, when all my shelling equipment had finally arrived and when Reg's twin
engine boat was ready for business. Unfortunately, Reg works in the local power plant and could only get away a few days
every three weeks, depending on his shifts. But we made the best of it, and most of our outings are happy memories indeed.
One of our first ventures was for Prince of Wales Island, one of the largest of the group. But, although we had some very
fine days camping on the white sand beaches, diving, and spearing crayfish, the trip did not yield much in the way of shells,
except for a few good Melo, lots of small Turris and heaps of other common shells. Not to speak of the four deer shot by
friend Reg a few hours before we sailed home.
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