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Brown-lip shell heishe
From Rabaul, New Guinea: A native collector wrote to us offering 136 live-collected Cypraea coxeni. From a different source
we received an offer of 200 coxeni. To further the evidence of "slaughter," an American collector passed through Honolulu
recently with over 175 specimens of New Guinea coxeni in his luggage to be used "for trading," so he said.
From Florida, U.S.A.: Fishermen trawlers just sold 230 live-collected Voluta junonia johnstonae and 203 specimens of Voluta
kieneri. The kieneri were all small (4" to 5") and the junonia were of "poor quality"!!!
These accounts barely touch on the world-wide destruction of molluscan fauna now taking place daily to supply the
ever-growing shell market.
Dealers and shell clubs alike should unite in a concerted conservation program before depletion of this nature puts them both
out of business.
Saturday, April 2, 1966 will be a day I will remember for a long time. This was the morning that I found a beautiful, perfect
2-1/2" specimen of Conus bullatus.
Diving buddies Mal Loring of the Hickam Sea Lancers, and Reg Grimm of the San Francisco Skin Divers, were with me at a depth
of 75 feet off Pokai Bay when I spotted what looked like a typical 2" wide Terebra maculata track in a small sand pocket
between coral clumps. The trail lead from the edge of a coral boulder out into the center of the sand patch, and ended. A
quick fanning action across the track's end uncovered a brilliant red cone. I didn't know what I had for sure but I knew it
was something special. When I showed it to Mal and Reg sand really began to fly as they searched for the mate to my shell.
As for the small and tiny cowries, the main collecting area is on the reefs near the outer edge of the lagoon near the open
sea. At low tides a long stretch of reef falls dry (dry water, the locals call it) and it is possible to walk there without
getting wet feet. Plenty of stones are scattered around, under which many kinds of cowries have been found, as well as a
variety of other shells. The first cowries discovered here were labrolineata, kieneri and rhinoceros, but gradually
staphylaea, felina, helvola and asellus came to light. Further exploration revealed the tiny minoridens and an odd fimbriata,
both very difficult to find as they are so small and well camouflaged and the very attractive cribraria, which the kids
christened "madai." Some rather small "madai" turned up which appeared to be somewhat different from the other cribraria, and
experts have identified them now as being catholicorum. They are quite rare, as one may find just one among some 15-20
cribraria, which by no means are common either. Some nucleus, a couple of teres and an old punctata (very small) were also
found in this general area on the edge of the lagoon. And this year in August, a kid of about 10 year[s old] started to smash
soft coral heads, and discovered poraria with a very dark base.
A second collecting area which has been completely overlooked until recently is a small bay, almost wholly surrounded by
hills, and partly cut off from the sea by a little natural island. Even when the wind sweeps through the lagoon and the sea
gets rough, the little bay remains quiet and peaceful. The greatest depth at low tides is only a few feet, one fathom at the
most. I used to get the ecological variety of coxeni (long and slender, without swollen margins) from South Malaita, but when
the weather got somewhat rough in August, people started to investigate the little bay, and came up with a fair number of the
Malaita variety of coxeni. And in company of coxeni, they found also rather large punctata and some microdon granum, in a
proportion of just one each for 10 - 15 coxeni. Incidentally, the three last species seem to prefer very quiet water, and it
would appear that they mainly feed on weeds which are plentiful in the little bay. Some coxeni have a greenish coloring,
especially when the animal is still in it.
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