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Conus magus
It is a curious fact that Erosaria tomlini is a bizonal species like the other deep water species mentioned above (see the
map in H.S.N. 1964, no. 52, p. 3): it lives in Melanesia and East Australia (E. tomlini, = prodiga, = percomis) and in a
northern zone from Japan to Philippines (E. tomlini ogasawarensis, = maturata, = marielae), but it is absent in the
equatorial zone of the Pacific.
I had the opportunity recently to examine several cowries from the collection of Mrs. M. Coppell, Rarotonga. These shells
were collected during May and June, 1966, at Pukapuka Atoll (or Danger I.), Northern Cook group, by the resident school
teacher Mr. Itipouana Tautua. The Pukapuka Atoll is triangular in arrangement, and consists of 3 small Islands placed near
the corners of the triangular fringing reef; only the northernmost, Wale Island, is inhabited. Among the material examined was a purple-colored specimen of Staphylaea nucleus (Linnaeus). This variant had a rose-purple
dorsum, dark purple ridges and light violet nodules; this color-arrangement ceases at the margins. The base is the usual
yellow-brown with basal ridges bordered with reddish-brown; the margins are rounded and the general shape of the shell
deviates as much or as little from normal S. nucleus as S. nucleus populations differ from different geographic regions. The
dimensions of the variant were L: 19.7 mm, W: 10.9 mm, LT: 23, CT: 19. The other specimens of S. nucleus from Pukapauka are
of normal color and the largest specimen measured L: 17.4 mm, W: 10.0 mm, LT: 25, CT: 17. According to Mrs. Coppell (in
litt.), three Pukapuka students collected the purple variant on previous occasions together with normal colored S. nucleus on
the reef facing the northern side of Wale Island.
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Shell
Bracelets
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