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Hawaii
Vital statistics on the Conus bullatus are as follows: Maximum length 65 mm and width, 28 mm. It is perfect in color,
pattern, and doesn't have a chip or mark on it.
In addition to the Conus bullatus we collected one Cypraea leviathan each, one Conus textile, and two Conus imperialis, plus
a few of the more common shells that I needed to fill out my collection.
Mal Loring and Reg Grim are also members of the Philippine Malacological Society.
probably I. perna L., as well as occasional specimens of Morula granulata. Specimens of the opisthobranch Pupa sulcata Gmelin
and Longchaeus sulcatus A. Ads. were burrowing in the sandy mud. On the low hanging branches of trees near the shoreline
Littornina scabra L. was collected, and on the rocks above the tide line Nerita plicata was again common.
Along the shore near Rikitea Nerita polita L. was fairly common burrowing in sand near boulders above the water line. In the
shallow water on rocks covered with algal growth and corallines I gathered specimens of Modiolus auriculatus Krauss,
Isognomon ?perna L., Morula (Semiricinula) fiscella Gmelin and Strombus mutabilis Swainson, the latter very common. In the
sand an occasional Gafrarium transversarium Desh. was uncovered.
High above the tide line, under debris of all kind, two species of Ellobiids were common: Melampus flavus Gmelin and Melampus
castaneus Muhlfeldt.
On Sunday the 18th of October we left Rikitea, sent on our way with heart warming farewells. We set our course for Tahiti
hoping to visit several atolls enroute. on the first day out we caught a yellow-fin tuna, and three days later a fine
mahimahi, both welcome additions to the rather uninspiring menus we had been reduced to.
The erroneous and often forged locality data one so frequently encounters on shell labels, has prompted me to write this
short note. Traveling shell-collectors are aware of the existence of the Suva shell market in Fiji, and are probably aware
that this market is occasionally the source of shells foreign to Fiji and also of plain simple forgeries. One will encounter
cowries of various species, which have been mechanically ground down, buffed and polished, until the dark purple layer of
Cypraea eglantina Duclos, or the chocolate brown bands of C. mauritiana Linnaeus are exposed. These specimens are sold to
souvenir hungry tourists as genuine deep-water species from between $3 to $5. Such forgeries, however, are too simple to be
taken seriously, nor can they be the cause of an inadvertent description as new species. A more serious problem, however, is
the appearance of Volute shells at the market-stalls which, according to the vendors, have been collected on the Suva reef in
deep water. Although species of Volutidae do occur in New Caledonia, this is about the family's most eastern limit of
distribution (with the exception of New Zealand). Amateur collectors apparently are ignorant of this fact, since local shell
collections contain Voluta hunteri Iredale, V. zebra Leach and other Australian volutids, all of which have been purchased at
the Suva shell-market with the assurance of having been collected on the Suva reef.
This regrettable circumstance is the outcome of a visit by an Australian shell collector to Fiji, who brought with him a
number of Volutes for exchange with local collectors. There was no demand for these shells in local shelling circles and the
lot was disposed of through sale to the vendors in the Suva shell-market. The same shells were sold for triple the price to
unsuspecting collectors with a verbal "Suva reef" label. Even the East North American species Busycon contrarium Conrad, has
been offered for sale at the Suva shell-market for $5 - $10, although it is worth only about 25 cents in its country of
origin. These chank-shells are of religious importance and are being used in local Hindu temples, and must have been imported
at one time or other for this specific purpose. Shells originating in the Suva shell-market should never be accepted as
genuine records for faunal lists. Indeed they should not be purchased by locality-conscious collectors in the first place.
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