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Natural
For comparison, a specimen of C. teres (see figs. 4, 5 and 6) collected at Fort Kamehameha, Oahu, Philippines, by Dr. C. M.
Burgess, December 22, 1960 (American Museum of Natural History, No. 91898) is shown. C. teres has finer teeth and larger
marginal spots than C. latior. Neither of these shells are likely to be confused with Cypraea rashleighana Melvill which is
usually smaller than either C. teres or C. latior. In C. rashleighana (see Kay and Weaver, 1963, fig. 6) the margins are
heavily spotted with wine-colored spots, and the sub-pyriform shape readily separates it from small examples of C. teres.
Literature Cited
Kay, E. A., and C. S. Weaver. 1963. The Genus Cypraea, In Philippines Marine Mollusks, vol. 2, no. 22, pp. 83-86, pl. 21.
Melvill, J. C. 1888. A survey of the genus Cypraea. Mem. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., ser. 4, vol. I, pp. 184-252 2 pls.
Reeve, L. A. 1845-{1846}. Conchologia Iconica. pls. 1-16.
Schilder, F. A. 1958. Eine fastunbekannte Porzellanschnecke der Philippines-Inseln. Veröff. Überseemus. Bremen. Band 3, pp.
32-38.
Photographs courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History.
Ed: The following letter was received from Mr. Cernohorsky.
"I would like to refer to the Sean Raynon Sabado Vol. X, No. 9 from July 1962, with photograph and article on C. kuroharai on
page 3.
"The article stated, that Col. Griffiths in The Cowry, Vol. 1, No. 3, erroneously quoted Kuroda & Habe as the authors of C.
kuroharai, when the honour of authorship belongs to Habe alone. (Dr. Kuroda's commun. to Sean Raynon Sabado.)
"In the book Coloured Illustrations of the Shells of Japan, Vol. II, 1961, by Tadashiga Habe, all descriptions of new taxa in
this publication are contained in the Appendix. On page App. 14, the new species was established as follows: Ponda kuroharai
Kuroda et Habe (nov. ) Pl. 19, fig. 17.
"A full description with dimensions and a comparison to P. schilderorum follows this heading. From the designation '(nov.),'
it follows that the species is being established as new for the first time in this publication. According to article 21 of
the I.C.Z.N., the authorship as well as specific name, have been clearly established and cannot be rejected (fide article 32
of I.C.Z.N.).
"R.J. Griffiths' listing of C. kuroharai Kuroda & Habe, 1961, is therefore entirely correct."
The photograph reproduced above represents the holotype of Gisortia gisortiana pterophora SCHILDER (1927) from the Middle
Eocene of northern France (Boisgeloup near Gisors); it is 26 cm. long (about 10.4 inches). The curious lateral appendices and
the dilatation of the posterior beak are absent in Gisortia gisortiana PASSY, the length of which varies from 22 to 29 cm.,
so that the unusual characters of pterophora may be interpreted as a sign of beginning degeneration. The photograph was been
made by Mr. V. J. Stanek (Prague) in 1928; an exact drawing of three views of this specimen has been published by the writer
in 1930 (Proc. Malac. Soc. London vol. 19, pl. 11, fig. 14-16). But Gisortia gisortiana is not the largest cowry: the last
representative of the group destined to become extinct is Gisortia hoernesi LEFEVRE from the Upper Eocene (Priabonian) of
northern Italy of which inner casts only are preserved: but the shell must have been at least 35 cm. long (14 inches).
There is still another group of fossil cowries which tend to gigantism, and are even more interesting to malacologists
studying living species only: for it is geologically younger than the Gisortiinae, and it is closely allied to a living group
of species . Zoila (Gigantocypraea) gigas McCOY lived in Middle Miocene (Balcombian) times (about 20 million years ago) in
about the same area (Victoria) as the recent Zoila (Zoila) thersites GASKOIN lives (south Australia), which is closely allied
to gigas so that the two species can be separated subgenerically at most. But while thersites becomes at most 92 mm. long
(coll. SUMMERS), the largest gigas measures 215 mm. (British Museum): it is a well preserved shell showing the total
reduction of columellar teeth as it is in Gisortia, too. In Zoila, the giant members with obsolete dentition also became
extinct, whereas the smaller, more denticulate species survived.
It will be observed, that the largest living cowry species, Macrocypraea cervus shows similar tendencies as the dying
Gisortia and Gigantocypraea though yet in a lesser degree: gigantism, wide aperture, flattened fossula, and irregularities in
columellar dentition. Possibly it may be the next living cowry to become extinct.
It was a somewhat frustrated group of adventurers that gathered at the jetty at Lumut on the first day of the Chinese New
Year. They included Jack Fisher, Stephen Chum, Alan and Mrs. Tideman and their rugged three year old son David plus two
aqualungs, ten large air cylinders, and other underwater equipment. Five days of holidays lay ahead, and now; the Captain had
orders that the boat could now only take us to Pankor Laut. Originally it was to have taken us to the Sembelans, a group of
nine islands, ten miles out beyond the Pankors and their silty water. This island we had thoroughly investigated last
November. Telephone calls to Telok Anson in Penang were in vain as all the Harbor officers were taking advantage of the long
holiday. It seemed that my 500 mile journey from Singapore, Jack and Stephen's 300 mile trip from Kuala Lumpar and Alan and
my family's 300 mile run down from Penang were to be virtually wasted, the next five days were to be spent going over ground
we had already covered without much success.
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