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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.
My first experience in a native "Binta Boat" came early the next morning. The boat had the body of a large canoe with two
outriggers on it and a large colorful square sheet for a sail. In no time at all, Joe Abanales and myself were on our way to
Little Santa Cruz Island about two miles off Zamboanga City. I was especially anxious to look the reef over where, in 1959,
thousands of small Cypraea were washed ashore after a typhoon. While I never saw that many cowries there, some seem to be
still washing ashore. I found on the beach: Cypraea cicercula, bistrinotata, globulus, punctata, ziczac, lutea, raysummersi
and scurra, also Conus cylindraceus and mitratus.
I tried diving in the same area at the south end of the island. But even after several hours of breaking coral with a crow
bar from 5'-20' deep, I never turned up any of the shells that I had found on the beach. Next morning I went out with two
native divers to Large Santa Cruz Island working that area over but to little avail except for some common cones and cowries.
So I went on back to Little Santa Cruz and tried diving at about the middle of the island (which is about 1/2 mile long and
500' wide) right in front of a light house. I figured that maybe the current was carrying the shells down to the reef at the
south end of the island where I had collected on the beach the day before.
Again after several hours of turning coral heads and breaking coral I concluded that the rare "cyps" must live in deep
channel water between the islands and the mainland. One nice large dome coral head in 15' of water did yield a small dead
Cypraea that at first glance I thought to be beckii, which made me very happy. However, later on back in the "Binta Boat" I
could see that it was too large for beckii and lacked the ocellated dots all over the dorsum of that shell. I suspected I
might have the exceedingly rare Cypraea martini, but never having seen one before, it wasn't until I arrived back in Manila a
week later that I was sure! When I saw Donald Dan's copy of The Veliger with Crawford Cate's recent artical and illustrations
of Cypraea martini, I really jumped for joy! My specimen was a dead ringer for Cate's specimen except for size (one mm
longer) and being a more adult shell. This makes 2 recent specimens found in the P. I. To have personally collected this
rarity myself was quite an experience! Not counting the other 2,000 shells I bought and collected on my trip to Sulu,
Zamboanga, Davao and Cebu, this one shell made the trip worth while.
The famous collection of the late Ph. Dautzenberg, now preserved in the museum of Brussels, contains several drawers with
almost three hundred pathological monstrosities in cowries. I also have been on the look out for deformations of cowry shells
caused by various accidents during the animal's life, but healed and repaired by the mollusk as far as it was possible.
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