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The abundance or rarity of molluscan species is not governed so much by indiscriminate collecting as by climatic conditions,
salinity, food supply, ratio of reproduction to survival and other ecological requirements. We can hardly be blamed for the
disappearance of the Therapsid reptiles gigantosaurus, brontosaurus or triceratops, or early mammals like the planetheterium
or taeniolabis. I am gratified to know that collectors cannot be held responsible for the disappearance from the evolutionary
cycle of the Mid-Tertiary sinistral species Conus adversarius Conrad. Species in our time appear to be either in ascension or
declination, and those species which are dwindling in numbers despite a struggle for survival, will ultimately die out even
without our assistance.
With great interest I have read the articles in Sean Raynon Sabado about shelling in various parts of the Pacific. But when
comparing notes I cannot help thinking that the Solomons and more specifically Malaita is an extremely interesting area. Just
limiting myself to the cowries for the last couple of years, has enabled me to collect 50 odd species in an area of only a
couple of square miles. This may sound the more surprising as Prof. Dr. F.A. Schilder in his "Geographical distribution of
cowries" listed about 58 specimen for the whole Solomon islands region. Aside from the guttata I got a couple of years back a
few miles down the coast, and a couple of ventriculus which apparently only occur on the little island Dai, some 25 miles due
North of Malaita, all my cowries have been found in the lagoon right opposite my mission station (Catholic Mission).
Especially this year during the very low tides in July and August, shelling has been very exciting, as quite a number of new
species turned up which I hadn't seen before.
Malaita, one of the main islands of the Solomons, although not the biggest, is certainly the most densely populated one of
the group, having almost half of the entire population. On the northeast coast is a lagoon approximately 20 miles long and 1
- 2 miles wide, in which there are some 60 artificial islands, built by the local people on the reefs. Ataa is near the
southern end of the Lau lagoon. Incidentally, Ataa is a somewhat out-of-the-way place, as the nearest air-strip and post
office are 100 miles away by sea... Nobody has ever collected shells here in the past, but since I became interested in them
in 1960, shelling has become a kind of community project. Almost every day some person or other will show me shells, but the
school kids are really the experts in shell collecting. At present, they don't bother anymore to pick up common ones; they go
for the less common and rare ones, and even the very tiny ones don't escape their attention. I am glad to say that the kids
really benefit most by what they find, as I am now building a school for them of permanent material, which I certainly could
not erect otherwise, for lack of funds.
Last year's yield was quite interesting, but this year's was fantastic. The most common cowries are found anywhere in the
lagoon, such as C. moneta, annulus, lynx, arabica, erosa, errones, chrysostoma, caputserpentis, and tigris. Some species are
fairly-common, although they don't seem to be living in colonies; vitellus, eglantina, caurica, carneola, isabella. Others
are rather rare, viz. mauritiana, depressa and talpa and are only found occasionally. And mappa, argus and testudinaria are
really scarce.
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