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Seven specimens of [Cypraea] Erronea onyx melanesiae Schilder, 1937, were collected by a native woman in the Lau Islands
(eastern Fiji Group). A specimen obtained by Mrs. C. Erich had the following dimensions: L: 50.3 mm, W: 28.0 mm, Lab. T: 2 0,
Col. T: 18. The Pacific E. onyx melanesiae is closely allied to E. onyx adusta (Lamarck), so much so, that the two are
difficult to separate; except perhaps in the coloring of the dorsum. The Fiji specimen has a dark chestnut-brown dorsum with
a very faint and irregular orange dorsal line, dark chocolate-brown sides and base and orange-fawn teeth. The Indian Ocean
adusta and the Pacific melanesiae are, however, geographically separated by the Indonesian onyx. E. o. adusta is of equal
taxonomic rank (prospecies) as humphreysi Gray, mexicana Stearns, eburnea Barnes and several others.
Two specimens of Strombus vomer vomer (Röding), were collected at Beqa Island and between Galoa and Korolevu (Sth. Viti Levu)
by Mr. and Mrs. W. Erich
This rather rare species was previously known from the Philippines, Ryukyu Islands and New Caledonia. Dr. H. Rehder (pers.
communication) obtained a specimen from a collector in Tonga (which confirms Martyn's 1784 record of "Friendly Isles" =
Tonga), and the Fiji record closes the distributional gap between New Caledonia and Tonga.
The larger specimen from Beqa I., measured 78 mm, had 10 whorls and 11 denticles on the lower part of the columella; the
aperture is yellowish-orange and sculptured with 53 white lirae which continue inside the aperture. The smaller specimen from
Galoa-Korolevu is 65 mm long, has 11 whorls and 9 denticles on the lower part of the columella. The aperture is
reddish-orange, sculptured with 12 white lirae posteriorly (central area is smooth) and 14 lirae anteriorly; the latter are
short and do not continue inside the aperture. The edge of the outer lip is light pink, margins of the projection, stromboid
notch and neighboring flange are lavender in color.
Collectors who do not understand Latin and Greek will possibly be interested in the meaning of the scientific names of some
well known cowry species. Most scientific names are Latin, but a few are Greek (marked by an asterisk *) or even other
languages (marked by two asterisks **). Most names can easily be understood, but a few need further explanation. These have
been put in brackets. If we restrict the explanations to living species and well recognizable subspecies of true cowries
(Cypraeidae), and omit the hundreds of varietal names and synonyms of minor importance, we can arrange the scientific names
according to their meaning as follows:
1. Most names refer to the characters of the shells;
There are some general designations, as gracilisgraceful, pericalles*very beautiful, pulchellarather beautiful (not: [a]
small pulchra!), pulchrabeautiful, stolidafoolish, vastacoarse, and venustacharming like Venus. Far more names refer to
the size: immanisvery large, or are descriptions of the general shape: angustatanarrowed, colobastunted,
cylindricacylindrical, depressadepressed, latiorbroader, pyriformispear shaped, teresoblong, tortirostriswith a tortuous
beak. Some names recall peculiarities in morphology: acicularisneedle shaped (referring to the lateral pittings),
edentulanot denticulate, erosaeroded (at the margins), esontropia*keeled within, eunota*with solid dorsum (more probably
than badly compounded by eu*well and notusknown), granulatagranulate, marginalis and marginatamargined, microdon*small
tooth (with small teeth), minoridenssmaller tooth (with smaller teeth), obvelatasurrounded by a sail, semiplotahalf ...
(not intelligible, possibly misspelled for semipolitarather polished), serruliferabearing a small saw (in front of the
columella), sulcidentatawith furrow-like teeth.
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