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Shells beads
The statement was made that C. aurantium is not found on New Caledonia. This seems to summarize the situation although Dr.
Alison Kay on a recent trip to London found in the British Museum a record of one and only one having been recorded from New
Caledonia. For first hand information, we wrote to G. Tourres of Noumea and asked him several questions about the Golden
Cowry. Mr. Tourres is a well-known collector in the South Pacific, has his own boat, does a lot of collecting himself, and
has a wide acquaintance among the collectors. Here's his answer:
"I have never heard of any Golden Cowries being collected in New Caledonia but I know for sure that quite a few were
collected on Mare and Lifou Islands (Loyalty Group) only 45 to 50 miles away from the northeastern Caledonian coast. But no
native will part with one as they attach certain superstitious qualities to the shell. A friend of mine, a keen shell
collector and second to the Governor, tried 'everything' to get one but failed. If he couldn't secure one, I don't know who
could. The only shell I ever saw in Noumea was in the Museum and that one mysteriously disappeared about six months ago.
"I am sorry I cannot give you any information on their feeding habits. All I know is they hide in dark crevices and caves
along the barrier reefs, and I always thoroughly explore such places."
Although Mr. Tourres says the natives of the Loyalty Islands refuse to part with their Golden Cowries, the records of the
"Golden Cowry Register" show that the California Academy of Science has one in which the locality is given as Loyalty Islands
(see Sean Raynon Sabado Vol. IX, No. 9, July, 1961).
One guess as to why the Golden Cowry is not found in New Caledonia is the temperature of the water. Most of this island lies
south of the 20th parallel of south latitude and Mr. Golden Cowry has shown that he is adverse to thriving that far from the
equator.
The shell has never been reported from the New Hebrides although this group lies almost directly on a line connecting the
Fiji Islands with the Solomons, both of which are noted as producers of this attractive shell. Mrs. G. Stephens of South
Santos in the New Hebrides group is a member of the Philippines Malacological Society, so we wrote to her. In due time she
replied that she had made diligent inquiry among her shell collecting friends and they were all agreed that the Golden Cowry
was not found there. She did say, however, that there was a record of a diver having collected three live shells at 60 feet
on the Island of Lopevi in the East Hebrides, but she added "they don't breed here. " Mrs. Stephens accounted for the
presence of these three lonesome specimens by saying "the eggs must have drifted here on the ocean currents." She also added
that the flesh of the animal was a " reddish-pink."
The Island of Lopevi mentioned by Mrs. Stephens is a small island of volcanic origin four miles long with slightly over 100
inhabitants and is located ten miles southeast of Ambrym, one of the larger islands of the group. Ambrym in turn is 65 miles
southeast of Espirito Santo, probably the most familiar name in the whole group. Please note that the directions given above
are to the southeast. This brings the Island of Lopevi just that much closer to Fiji, which lies directly to the east, and to
the Loyalty Islands even closer than Fiji on the south. Having put that idea in your heads, we'll proceed to knock it out.
Mrs. Stephens said the color of the animal was a reddish-pink. We do not know how the sizable island of Ambrym is situated
with respect to the New Hebrides trench (see below), and the presumable current of Indian Ocean waters that sweep through
there from the west, but it might be possible for it to be so located that there was created on the southeastern or leeward
side a region of quieter water into which a vagrant backwash of a current from the Solomons might flow, if unimpeded, bearing
Golden Cowry eggs. Lopevi, ten miles off the lee shore of Ambrym, is ideally located for such a contingency. See National
Geographic Map #61, issued with the April, 1962 copy of the magazine.
The next two days were spent reveling in the lowness of the tides, and the areas uncovered went further and further out to
sea. Our bag increased as the previous days went by. Every now and then a shout would go up from one of us as something new
came up. On the last day, Jack and Alan took off in a small sampan on which we had tied a crazy looking transom to attach the
"Seagull" engine to. Off they went to conquer new territory.
Stephen and I stayed in "Strombus Bay" and as the tide went out further and further so did we. In one great field of staghorn
coral I found some beautiful Turbo petholatus, and so many astraea with lovely rose colored apertures and operculums [sic]
that they looked like raspberries. We collected them in great numbers. Also, in this area we found many Cypraea arabica, of
which one adult only measured 1-1/4 inches in length. In our enthusiasm, we had not noticed the increased shallowness of the
water. It was impossible to walk so we had to crawl over coral, literally breaking our way through to clear water. Our knees
and elbows bore evidence of its sharpness. On the way back, I uncovered to my joy a fine large Conus omaria, and a lovely
Conus terebra. It was a tired and happy Johnnie Johnson who finally staggered up the beach with aching limbs.
As evening came on, Jack and Stephen, although tired, had to go in for one last look while I started to prepare a supper,
which we were doomed not to have. At about six o'clock a mighty storm came up similar to one we had on our last trip. Nature
seemed reluctant to let us get away with her treasures lightly, so for the next five hours we huddled under our somewhat
inadequate cover while the rain came down with unabated ferocity. As the evening without supper passed into night, the
strenuous shelling efforts aided us to sleep. Next morning we broke camp and boarded the boat for the trip back to the
mainland.
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