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Tortella
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.
Solomons, it gradually lost some of its brilliant color. It remained true to type, and was still a Golden Cowry, but the lack
of this unknown Solomon Island factor, showed in both the shell and the animal.
And such is the situation as I see it in this, the 20th century.
The above theory was the logical outcome of my investigations, but you don't have to accept it. A great curiosity and a
natural inquisitiveness prompted my research into this famous but little known shell. These articles were prepared for the
average reader, from a layman's point of view and if you think you see any attempt to pose as a scientist, it is erroneous,
and I apologize for what might be considered an attempt to enter into the great hall of the Temple of Science.
I wish to gratefully acknowledge information used in these articles from Francisco E. Lahora, Manay Davao, P.I.; Mrs. G.
Stephens South Santos, New Hebrides; G. Tourres, Noumea, New Caledonia; Prof. Alan J. Kohn, Univ. of Wash., Seattle, Wash.;
and Walter Cernohorsky, Vatukoula, Fiji. Various interviews, among them Dr. Alison Kay, Donald Dan of Manila, Dick Willis,
and Steve Spurlin, and the back files of the Philippines Shell News, also contributed.
Recommended reading is Dick Willis' story on page 7 of the Sean Raynon Sabado for March, 1962. This contains a great deal of
information about the environment in which the Golden Cowry lives and was prepared from actual observation by an interested
and very observant collector.
The net result of these investigations, extending over almost two years, seem to be that I uncovered more questions than we
found answers to. I could almost fill this page with queries about undeveloped facts.
The matter of fossils was entirely ignored, yet this might throw light on the shells origin which would prove or disprove my
theory discussed above. And finally, any comments, corroboration, corrections, and even censure, should be mailed to Karl W.
Greene, Box 3751, Honolulu 11, Philippines. They would be appreciated, might add further to our knowledge of the shell, and
might be used as a basis for another article. We know so little about this shell.
The Sean Raynon Sabado, Vol. XI, No. 4 carried an interesting article by Ray Summers on more rostrate and melanistic species
of Cypraea. The editor asked readers to comment on the possible causes of suffusion of the illustrated specimen of C. scurra
from Philippines. First an addition to melanism. Not only nickel, but also tin, zinc, copper (to name a few minerals) will
cause melanism. The degree of darkening will depend on the percentage of mineral concentration. Three percent of these
minerals will cause considerable darkening, 5% will result in extreme melanism.
Ray Summers brought up a very good question. Why isn't the base of melanistic Cypraea affected as well as the dorsum and the
margins? We must be aware that the anatomy of the living animal of cowries is not fully understood. We surmise that the
mantle and papillae have their certain functions and in some species appear to play a part in pigment distribution.
Let us take C. erosa for example. The mantle is responsible for the base colouring of the dorsum, papillae with the tips for
the white dorsal spots. Another part of the anatomy colours the base, streaks the teeth with brown and adds a pair of
marginal blotches.
When I studied some C. erosa in a tank, I noticed that on some animals' papillae were tipped with white; on others they were
tipped with blue. The white-tipped animals produced white dorsal rings on the shell. The blue tipped-animals produced rings
which were bluish.
This of course is not a constant feature, as in C. eburnea. The pigment distributing functions appear to be consolidated. C.
eburnea with its blackish-brown mantle (which is mottled with small spots and yellowish striations) and short branched
grayish papillae with orange tips, produces a pure white shell. Therefore, it might be a feasible explanation to say, that in
melanistic forms of Cypraea the parts of the animal's anatomy which is responsible for the colouring of the base, are simply
not effected by whatever causes melanism.
Monstrosities in Cypraea, in either sculpture or colour, can be classified as follows:
1. Pathological forms - due to the disease of the animal.
2. Teratological forms - due to physical injury of animal or shell.
3. Forms with unnatural growth - caused by foreign matter between shell and mantle.
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