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Murex indivia longspine
As I was able to procure reliable material from Mauritius collectors, it was an opportunity to follow up Dr. Verdcourt's
supposition, in order to clarify the status of C. esontropia. I received numerous specimens of this rather rare species from
Mauritius collectors, especially Mrs. Couacaud, who sent quite a number on loan, including a preserved animal; the latter was
sent to Dr. F A. Schilder for study. The results were as follows:
The shell: All 28 live-collected and 2 sub-fossil specimens were undoubtedly C. esontropia. The majority of specimens had the
"typical" deltoidal shape, while a few were elongate-ovate, resembling C. cribraria in this respect, all specimens had both
sides thickened. The dorsal base colour was mostly a fawnish-orange. Some specimens, however, were orange or reddish-orange,
with pale transverse dorsal zones visible on the dorsum. Both margins were thickly spotted with dark brown, the columellar
spots extending onto the base. On an average, the labial teeth were fewer in number than in C. cribraria. The columellar
teeth did not extend as ridges onto the curved fossula, but appeared as weakly formed, isolated denticles. There was no
specimen without the marginal spotting, and one adult specimen lacked the greater part of the dorsal pattern.
The matter of working with the mollusca takes a great deal of teamwork to get the job done. This teamwork can, perhaps, be
divided into three categories: one, the field worker who collects the material, whether through diving, dredging, shore
collecting or other methods; two, the plodder who works in the literature, digging out the answers to synonymy and priority
and identification; and three, the trained scientist who is able, through his background and education, to make use of the
help of the other two kinds of workers and combine their work into a meaningful whole.
No matter what your own favorite category may be, the literature is the necessary recorded story of the family. The fact that
it may be somewhat tangled at the moment only adds to the challenge and interest for the worker in that category; the
literature is the tool by which the Cypraea, for example, may be known. Because of this I'd like to mention a few examples
that have been especially helpful to me and to others working with this group.
The early records of Cypraeidae extend back beyond the 17th century, but I shall use Nicolai Gaultieri's Index Testarum
Conchyliorum of 1742 as my starting point. He called the cowries Porcellana, and employed a polynomial system for his species
designations which amounted to practically a whole sentence for each name. I would guess that Gualtieri was our first Lumper
-- he figured an outlandish number of varieties for each species, but for the most part his figures are recognizable today,
and he featured some forty species on four plates.
The next major work signaled the end of an epoch not only for Cypraea, but for conchology in general. In 1757, d'Argenville
produced an important work with more accurately drawn woodcut engravings, adding in many instances also the drawings of the
anatomy of the animal, as well as including some fossil species. Unfortunately for us, d'Argenville limited his coverage of
Cypraea to only one plate of illustrations.
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