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Rapa - rapana
It will be noted that there are two distinct types of shelling areas in such a habitat. The coral on the top of the drop-off
and along the slopes, where they exist, provide good shelling for all coral dweller and, less frequently, sand and silt
dwellers. In the sand, particularly very near the base of the sheer cliff-like drop-off, is excellent shelling for sand
dwellers. Shells listed below are the more rare shells collected in Area 2. Most other more common Philippines species have
also been collected from this area:
Conus litoglyphus Under coral on slope.
Conus vitulinus Under coral on top of shelf.
Conus distans Under coral on top of shelf.
Conus striatus Under coral in silt top of shelf.
Conus pertusus Under small coral on top of shelf.
Conus imperialis In shallow silt on top of slope.
Conus marmoreus bandanus Under coral slope and top.
Conus obscurus Under small coral top of slope.
Conus textile Under coral in deep silt slope and top of shelf.
Cypraea tessellata In coral heads slope and top.
Cypraea leviathan Under small coral slope.
Cypraea schilderorum Under small coral slope.
Cypraea gaskoini In coral heads top of shelf.
Cypraea poraria In coral heads top of shelf.
Cypraea granulata Under coral heads top of shelf.
Balcis thaanumi Sand, base of drop-off.
Balcis cumingii Sand, base of drop-off.
Strombus helli In fine rubble-top of drop-off.
Cymatiidae species Under coral heads top of cliff.
Nassariidae species Under coral heads top of cliff.
Oliva sandwichensis In sand at base of cliff.
Mitra langfordiana In sand at base of cliff.
Mitra cumingii In sand at base of cliff.
Mitra peasei In sand at base of cliff.
Vexillum thaanumi In sand at base of cliff.
Terebridae species In sand at base of cliff.
The last word in the Golden Cowry (Cypraea aurantium Gmelin, 1791) story has not been told. Future researchers will have to
tell it. This is the last in the present series (Jan. 1963 etc.) by the present writer. In this series, we have attempted to
bring together all the valuable information on this beautiful shell. The present article is concerned with additional
information resulting from a reading of the article by various shell collectors.
One of the most interesting letters was received from Charles O. Kile who was formerly an employee of the Trust Territory and
had many opportunities to learn about this shell. At present, Mr. Kile is retired but is still living at Agana, Guam, P.O.
Box 2046. Pertinent parts of Mr. Kile's letter follows:
"However, relative to the Golden Cowry, I really do not believe that they are as rare as it is commonly believed. I base my
assumption on conversations I have had with various natives in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and especially
with an intermediate student from Ulithi who was attending school at Yap. He graduated from the intermediate school in 1960.
He was a very intelligent boy. He had an unusually good command of the English language and an understanding of our terms
that was outstanding.
"He assured me that the Golden Cowry was plentiful in the Ulithi area, but that they were seen generally in chimneys within
the coral formation. He said that it was necessary to dive and enter the chimney from underwater. He assured me that he had
seen many of them when he would be out fishing. He also informed me that most of the large fishes seem to feed on them, but
that the tuna like them more than most of the other fishes. This was also told to me by some of the Trukese people and
especially by the District Sheriff of Truk, Mr. Ezra Kiego. He told me that the Trukese name for tuna means 'swallow shell.'
Sheriff Kiego's father was a very close friend of one of the early Protestant missionaries. Kiego's father collected shells
which the missionary shipped to the States for sale.
"Relative to the habitat of the Golden Cowry, I am inclined to believe from what I've been told that they prefer the windward
side of land. But it has been my experience that several of the other cowries seem to prefer the rough water particularly the
Cypraea mauritiana."
The place occupied by this shell among the tribes of the various islands has been referred to previously in this series. G.
Tourres of Noumea, New Caledonia, mentions the venerations in which the shells are held among the inhabitants of the Loyalty
Islands, explaining that it was impossible to get them to part with the shell. Mr. Kile refers to this subject in the
following paragraph:
rapa - rapana,sheashells,violet oyster,lambis - lambis natural,lamps,tebia fusos,painted,yellow punaw,hipopos,rapa - rapana
Rapa - rapana barnacle murex treremis pukalet shell hawaiian shells beads capis philippine bursa rubeya frogshell polished shells conus omaria oliva polished shells cyprea arabeca shell-madebelts brownlip melo distrosioanus mitra - mitra.
rapa - rapana
Shells
Jewellery
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