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Cay-cay
There is something in the May issue on which I would like to comment. It is about "mass slaughter of shells"… The fact that
some 500 Cypraea coxeni were offered in various lots, is mentioned as "further proof of indiscriminate shell collecting,"
implying that there is danger that soon no "Cox" cowries will be left. Well, is it really proof of "mass slaughter"? Wouldn't
it, perhaps, be proof that, after all, Cypraea coxeni just isn't as rare or uncommon as has been thought? The C. coxeni
referred to are from Rabaul; so I presume that they are C. coxeni hesperina. I must admit that I do not know how rare or how
common they are. But I do know a fair bit about C. coxeni coxeni, which are endemic to the Solomon Islands. Until recently
they were only known from New Georgia Island (Roviana and Marovovo lagoons) the broad type with swollen margins. But two
years ago they were also discovered on south east Malaita, and last year we found them also here at Ata'a (north-east
Malaita). They are an elusive shell, as they seem to occur in places where hardly any other type of shell is found. It
appears that they prefer to be completely on their own, in very quiet water. We only found a few odd C. punctata and C.
microdon granum in their company. (See my report "Shelling on Malaita" in Feb. issue, '66 of H.S.N.). But where C. coxeni
occurs, there it is quite common in almost unlimited supply. Incidentally, the Malaita C. coxeni is rather slender, without
swollen margins. I think that there are many small bays, etc., in the Solomon Islands, where the "Cox" cowries are still
undiscovered. And most of those areas are quite isolated and right off the beaten track for tourists and eager shell
collectors.
There is also another aspect to the matter of "mass slaughter of shells". The local people here have practically nothing and
are as eager to get some money as anybody else. And as they have discovered that there IS money in shells, they go out to
collect what they can get. Unfortunately for them, by collecting too many shells of a certain species, they cause the price
to drop drastically. But once the price is at the lowest possible level, they loose interest, and the species is saved
automatically.
In my opinion there is no need to sound the alarm when a few hundred of Cypraea coxeni are offered for sale. Even several
thousands would not threaten this species with extinction.
In conclusion, I would like to add that I believe that collecting in nature should ALWAYS be done in moderation.
THREE NEW COWRIES
In the October 1965 issue of The Nautilus (Vol. 79, No. 2) C. M. Burgess has published two new cowries, called Cypraea
cohenae and C. cassiaui.
The former species is a further member of the South African Cypraeovula (subgenus Luponia) which split up in many species
possibly because they live on the southern border of the area inhabitable by cowries, as the South Australian genera Zoila
and Notocypraea do also. cohenae shows a closely freckled smooth dorsum. The outer lip recalls fuscorubra in dentition, while
the inner lip is almost toothless as in edentula. Photos - Trostel --- Not To Scale
Figs. 4, 5:
Erosaria englerti Summers & Burgess, 1965
from Easter Island. Length: 24.4 mm.
The second species is closely allied to the Philippine Nuclearia granulata, but differs in color (dorsum deep rose-purple,
base light orange brown) and in the deep smooth dorsal sulcus; I think, however, cassiaui to be an extra-Philippine
subspecies only, as the eleven known shells came from the Marquesas Islands, from Flint Is. and Starbuck Is.
In the same issue of The Nautilus, Ray Summers and C. M. Burgess established Cypraea englerti, the second cowry species known
from the Easter Island. According to the characters of a third shell sent me by Summers for examination it is really a new
species. The structural characters of the faded beach shell figured above (24.4 mm long) point to close relationship to
Erosaria poraria, but the color shows the same tendency to become dusky brown as in caputdraconis from the same remote
island.
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