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Raw shells
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:
All specimens from Moreton Bay, both the holotype and 4 paratypes (sent me by W, O. Cernohorsky for examination) from 7-8
fathoms, and 4 specimens from 30 fathoms near Moreton Island (given me by O. H. Rippingale) are broader than the renovata
from Queensland, as they are about as broad as typical striatula from Bombay and the Persian Gulf. They are also mostly
smaller, though four shells from Shoal Point, Mackay (leg. G. Houston) are only about as large as tinctura, and much smaller
than the shells from Piccaninny Point, Yeppoon (leg. C. Coucom) and Pearl Reef (in coll. W. O. Cernohorsky)! These facts may
be illustrated by the diagram in which the length (in classes of 0.5 mm) has been plotted against the breadth (expressed in
per cent of length). Therefore tinctura seems to represent a well defined local race of Primovula striatula renovata: so far
as we know at present times, it seems to be restricted to the Moreton Bay area.
The July issue of The Veliger, quarterly journal of the California Malacozoological Society, contains a paper by Crawford N.
Cate on Western Australian cowries, in which he lists 60 species, with synonymy, bibliographic references, distribution,
measurements of largest and smallest shells, and other notes. He describes two subspecies as new: Cribraria (Ovatipsa)
chinensis whitworthi and Mauritia (Arabica) arabica brunnescens. A plate shows top and bottom of three species. In addition
to a map showing localities, these are listed alphabetically with geographical coordinates.
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