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Seashells components
When I was not busy buying shells or out with Reg, I usually went out with the local fishermen or with the luggers on their
pearl diving ventures. Some of these trips leave me with very happy memories. Others were dismal failures and sometimes quite
miserable trips. One trip from Thursday Island off the South coast of New Guinea was a whole week of hardships. We were four
on a 27 foot boat, with only two bunks available, and I camped on deck, with only a blanket as a shelter against rain and
spray. Everything seemed to happen on that nasty trip. The boat leaked like a "Tahitian bait basket" and had to be pumped
every hour or so. Then, we hit a reef and nearly lost the boat. Two days of strenuous work got it afloat. Another evening,
the anchor broke loose and the boat went drifting among treacherous reefs in the middle of the night. Then the dingy broke
loose and was lost. Then…
Well, I was only a guest in that party, but I could not help telling the "captain" what I thought about his seamanship. He
didn't mind, though, and proved it by hitting another reef on the way back. When we crawled into harbor late one night I
swore under my breath that I would never set my foot on a boat again. Of course, two days later, I was off again on some wild
goose chase… How on earth can I get rid of that shell bug… !
Well, these thrilling adventures only lasted three very short months. When time came to go home, I planned my trip back
through the Barrier Reef on small boats, which is a real sight indeed. I did not get a chance to do much shelling, but I did
quite a lot of trading on the way down to Brisbane and Sydney and acquired some beautiful and rare shells, including Cypraea
hirasei, saulae nugata, melwardi, Voluta grossi , grayi, jamrachi aulica, & norrisi oblita, three unnamed species, dozens of
new Murex, Conus and Strombus for my collection, plus scores of miscellaneous species. When I landed in New Caledonia, I had
over twenty cartons of shells to my credit, and this fascinating trip was well worth while, if only for the fine people I met
on the way. I feel sure that nothing in this world can fetch more and better friends than our fascinating hobby.
The illustrated C. caurica elongata Perry, 1811, has the typical blackish-brown dorsum and blond base of melanistic
specimens; the shell is grossly rostrate, teeth having shifted into the aperture, which is rather dilated anteriorly. Photos
- Cernohorsky - mag. x1.5
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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