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Shell tiles
July 12, 1962
"My Dear Mr. Greene,
"I purposely did not reply to yours of 5 April '62, because, in the absence of my godson diver, there was nothing I could do
about sending a live taken golden cowry.
"My godson arrived from Cebu last May and I immediately told him of your desire. We made several shelling trips just for a
live golden cowry, but for over a month we were unsuccessful. Then, Eureka! on June 25, 1962 just after the last quarter of
the moon, at around 11 o'clock in the evening, my godson emerging from the water was holding in his hands a live Cypraea
aurantium and after giving it to me he went back to the water to look for another. We stayed for over an hour more, but my
said diver was not able to duplicate his feat.
"We were using only a Petromax gas lamp on the banca boat. It was a dark and moonless night and my godson's only weapon was a
crude fish gun and a two battery flashlight inserted inside the tube of an interior bicycle tire. From our position, I could
see that we were not far from the shore, it was around two or three meters from the intertidal zone and the depth was not
more than from 3 to 5 fathoms. Beneath we could clearly see coral reefs all around partly covered by seaweeds, My godson
tells me that this one was taken in a rock crevice under a coral ledge. The place, Dahikan coral reefs, Manay, Davao, just on
the other side of Manaol Point facing the East from Manay Bay. Manaol Point is also a golden cowry country as some of my
shells were taken from here.
"That was our only reward for the evening. Although tired and hungry I was in good spirits, because I am now in a position to
comply with your request. The shell is now in a glass container with rubbing alcohol ready for you as soon as I can avail
myself of a plastic container. My only problem now is how to send this to you by air cargo. Our plane office in Davao City,
being only an agency of the PAL (Philippine Air Lines) may not accept it free as a scientific specimen. I will be going to
Davao this week and find out from the local manager if this could be accepted for free (as a scientific specimen). Otherwise
I will notify you accordingly."
Well, they wouldn't accept it, declaring that it was unmailable. Finally Philippine Airlines agreed to accept it as a special
shipment for a fee of $10, and it was delivered to them by Mr. Lahora, transferred to QANTAS at Manila, arriving in Honolulu
on the morning of Oct. 4. I was phoned to come and get it. We imposed on a friend (Mrs. Andrus) and went to the airport, got
the cowry, and took it to Dr. Kay's office at the Science Department of the University of Philippines. Miss Kay's opening
salutation was, "Where's my Golden Cowry?" We gave it to her and you know the rest. All except her official and scientific
report which will be published soon.
William Swainson was an Englishman, born in 1789, who early in his life traveled extensively in the Mediterranean and then
devoted himself to studying natural history. He visited Brazil in 1816 and brought back to England with him material which
formed the nucleus of descriptions of animals which were published in a periodical which he sponsored, Zoological
Illustrations. Swainson was also the author of Exotic Conchology, a now extremely rare book which was first published in
1821. About 1850 William Swainson migrated to New Zealand where he died in 1855.
The description of the exotic cowry, C. tessellata, "The Mosaic Cowry," was published in the midst of descriptions and
illustrations of Brazilian birds and beasts in Zoological Illustrations in 1822. Following the Latin description of the shell
Swainson added the following note, "Mrs. Mawe is in possession of this very beautiful little shell; a string of them were
presented to her as coming from New Zealand: that which formed the centre was the only perfect specimen, and from that the
figure was taken." C. tessellata was also mentioned by Swainson in a sale catalogue published in 1822. The sale was that of a
collection of "...Rare and Valuable Shells which formed the Celebrated Collection of the late Mrs. Thigh" in which there were
several rare Cypraea, "...particularly C. tessellata."
The collections from which Swainson drew his description and information on C. tessellata were famous in England in the 19th
century. Mrs. Mawe was the wife of John Mawe, author of one of the first "modern" systems of classification of mollusks which
was set out in his famous little book, The Linnaean System of Conchology, published in 1823. It is apparent from Swainson's
note that Mrs. Mawe was in possession of a shell led. Mrs. Thigh was the wife of Admiral Thigh who, in the words of Swainson
"...had, from the situations in which his professional eminence placed him, the best opportunities of procuring whatever was
the most valuable and rare..," from the South Seas. Neither collection, however, contained accurate information on locales,
and for the next 60 years, in works such as those of Kiener and Reeve, the habitat of C. tessellata was generally ascribed to
New Zealand.
Apparently the first person to attempt to pinpoint the habitat of C. tessellata was Andrew Garrett who in 1879 in his
Catalogue of Cypraeidae Collected in the South Seas states that C. tessellata"...is found only at Sandwich Islands. We
obtained beach specimens on the west coast of Philippines and on the north coast of Kauai. It is generally recorded from New
Zealand, but I very much doubt its occurrence there." Despite Garrett's statement, however, Roberts in Tryon's Manual of 1885
still listed the habitat as "New Zealand and Sandwich Islands."
Finally, in 1895, Robert Standen reported in a note in the Journal of Conchology that he had "authentic information" on the
precise habitat of C. tessellata. Standen noted that at an exhibition at the Manchester Branch of the Conchological Society
of Great Britain there were "...two examples collected on a sandy beach at Kahuku, Oahu, Sandwich Islands, in 1891, by Mr. E.
Worthington, who was present at the meeting, and gave an interesting account of his finding them associated with Trivia
madagascariensis {Cypraea granulata}, C. caput-anguis {Cypraea caputserpentis}, and numerous other species of lesser note."
The discovery of S. erythrinus erythrinus in Fiji will necessitate a taxonomic revision of this species. Dr. Tucker-Abbott
(Indo-Pac. Moll. Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 81) gives the range of S. erythrinus s. str. as Red Sea, East Africa, Japan, North
Australia, New Caledonia to Philippines. The sub-species rugosus is supposed to replace the typical species in Fiji, Ellice,
Samoa and Tonga islands. The existence of both rugosus and erythrinus s. str. in the Fiji Islands proves that rugosus cannot
taxonomically be regarded as a subspecies of erythrinus. [S.] rugosus differs from erythrinus in having a lower spire, being
broader, the aperture and columella are entirely white, the 4 - 5 knobs on the body whorl are much larger and more pronounced
and the outer lip is squarely-shouldered at the top, forming a distinct point.
S. erythrinus erythrinus had been dredged in Fiji only at a depth of 60-90 feet (A. Jennings, Nadi), whereas S. rugosus is
found from 3-100 feet. Both were dredged at the same localities (Namotu Id. and Malolo Lailai, W of Nadi). The Fijian S.
erythrinus appear to be a dwarf form of this species (14mm.-18mm.), and rugosus is, on the average, twice or even three times
as large as erythrinus. [S.] rugosus outnumbers erythrinus in Fiji approximately 30:1.
The S. erythrinus s. str. from Fiji has the inside of the aperture brown, with 17 darker brown lirae. The top of the
columella has 10-11 brown spiral lirae, center part is smooth, bottom of columella and tip of body whorl are tinged purplish
brown, and bottom part of columella has 8 spiral lirae.
So far no intergrades were found. Dr. Tucker Abbott has been supplied with specimens of both forms (courtesy A. Jennings,
Nadi) and there is no doubt that a taxonomic revision of the 2 species will be made in due course.
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