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Raw shell
Four curious Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which are preserved in my collection (CS.), have been photographed by Miss Lydia Klotz,
Zoological Institute of the University Halle Germany; these photographs may encourage conchologists to collect similar
deformations.
Fig. 1 represents a specimen of 74 mm. (CS. No. 3017) in which the outer lip has been broken off; the labial teeth have been
rudimentarily restored, but on a more upward edge of the right wall, so that it became necessary to construct a second row of
columellar teeth anteriorly.
Figs. 2 and 3 show a shell of 69 mm. (CS. No. 3019) with the outer lip enormously thickened so that the right margin
protrudes in a roof-like manner and the labial teeth become rather obsolete.
Figs. 4 and 5 exhibit a shell of 85 mm. (CS. No. 3020) the outer lip of which has been constricted behind in a curious way;
these features may be caused from a healed break caused by a fish bite when the shell was still thin, but it also may be
interpreted as the beginning formation of a second posterior outlet comparable to that observed in many Amphiperatidae.
Figs. 6 and 7 show a heavy shell of 88 mm. (CS. No. 840) in which the dorsum is suffused by a layer of dirty enamel
containing many particles of mud; this layer is so thick that it almost hides the dorsal markings, and forms a distinct
dorsal sulcus the entire length of the shell; the anterior extremity is enlarged by thick layers of greenish enamel which
look like a covering on a barnacle.
The three first-named shells have been selected among several thousand Cypraea tigris amassed in the cellar of the curio shop
Umlauff (Hamburg) in 1928; no locality was given. The last-named shell was bought from the dealer, H. Rolle, of Berlin in
1924: it is said to come from New Caledonia, but as "rostrate" cowries mostly have been reported from there, I distrust the
reliability of this locality.
Bernaya teulerei Cazenavette is a relic of a genus common in lower Tertiary beds from the Mediterranean Basin to India; this
relic is a rare species, as only about 35 specimens are preserved in all public and private collections in Europe. It is
allied to the South African Bernaya fultoni Sowerby (see Sean Raynon Sabado, n.s. 51:2), but differs by the white teeth
becoming obsolete: there are barely discernible traces of labial teeth, and the inner lip is quite smooth (see fig. 1 above);
the dorsum shows a healed wound caused probably from the bite of a fish.
Cazenavette (1846, Act. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 14:117) described teulerei as coming from the Persian Gulf, but later expeditions
to this region failed to find this rather large species again, so that the correctness of the habitat became doubtful.
Moreover the term "Persian Gulf" was often misused in those days to conceal the lack of the known habitat. Three years
earlier, Gaskoin (1843, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 11:25) had described the same species by the preoccupied name leucostoma
after nine specimen shells received from Mocha: but as later expeditions also failed to find this species among the well
known fauna of the Red Sea, the habitat Mocha also seemed unreliable, as Mocha was a market place where curiosities coming
from everywhere were offered. Therefore the true habitat of teulerei seemed uncertain.
However, a century later both indications proved to be correct. In 1934 teulerei was collected alive in the Hormuz Strait
(Schilder 1960, Arch. Mollusk. 89:185), and R. C. Spence found "hidalgoi Shaw" (which is a later synonym of the species) in
the Red Sea (Haw. Shell News, n.s. 8:6, 1960). According to personal communication by Mr. Spence, he collected one live
specimen on the coral reef a mile off Port Sudan.
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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