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Jewelry shell
It will be seen by those who compare this list of fourteen species with that given by Schilder that seven species are
recorded from the Tubuai Islands for the first time. It brings the number of species known from this area to seventeen, the
species known previously from the islands and not found by my collectors being Cypraea talpa L., C. tigris L., and C.
(Lyncina) lynx L.
It should be mentioned that a specimen of C. mauritiana L. was seen in a small private collection on Tubuai, which the owner
said was collected on Raevavae, it being unknown on Tubuai. Other informants, however, told my collector Dick Sixberry that
this species has been carried to the Tubuai Islands by sailors on the inter-island trading schooners, probably from the
Marquesas.
The collections from which the above information is taken were made during the time of the most unfavorable weather, and
storms prevented collecting on many days of the expedition's stay.
Mr. Cedric Coucom of Yeppon (Queensland) has sent me 331 cowries which he had collected in 1965 during a short visit to
Holborne Island, about 20 miles north of Bowen, Queensland; the small island is rarely visited by shell collectors. Plenty of
worn, bleached shells have been collected on the sandy beach, but only a few living cowries on the adjacent reefs so that the
animals are thought to live in deeper waters. In the following paragraph the species have been enumerated according to their
frequency, indicated by the number of specimens collected on the beach:
49 carneola (25 to 74 mm long), 33 isabella, 28 labrolineata, 27 erosa, 22 nucleus, 18 pallidula, 16 eglantina, 16 caurica,
14 errones, 14 gracilis, 14 quadrimaculata, 13 cylindrica, 10 vitellus, 10 stolida (large), 8 talpa, 6 annulus, 5 cicercula,
4 argus, 4 lynx, 4 teres, 2 scurra, 2 margarita, 2 caputserpentis, 2 hirundo, 2 cribraria, 1 arabica, 1 staphylaea, 1
limacina, 1 asellus, 1 clandestina, 1 kieneri -- but no specimens of globulus, moneta, xanthodon, subviridis, listeri, etc.
The total of 31 species among 331 cowry specimens is amazing, and the relative frequency of species is unusual in East
Australian waters. The absence of xanthodon points to the insular character of the fauna, and the white aperture of
caputserpentis as well as the large lateral blotches of erosa point to its affinity with Melanesian faunas, as the relative
frequency of quadrimaculata, talpa and argus does.
SCUBA diving around the coast of Sydney, as elsewhere, can only be accomplished at the generosity of the elements. Although
we have few problems with strong currents, we do have to contend with a rather heavy swell. As the greater part of our diving
is done from shore, it is only in times of smooth seas that dives can be made with satisfactory safety measures. When the
water is turbulent the Harbour comes into its own. No matter how rough we can always find a spot to get in, and more
important, to get out in one piece. Visibility is nothing to boast about and at times it is only 2 to 3 feet.
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Bracelets
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