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Pinkrode
If Mr. deVaul knew what repercussions his taking of 37 Murex insularum on a Christmas weekend 1965 would have, I am certain
he would have given up shell collecting right then and switched over to philately. No less than four articles were published
condemning his action, and before Mr. deVaul's enthusiasm for shell collecting turns to sour grapes, we might try to view the
matter more objectively and see if the guilt of "Over-collecting" can be distributed more equally.
The taking of over 1200 specimens of Voluta deshayesi in New Caledonia and several hundred Cypraea coxeni in New Britain is
legend among collectors, and details need not be repeated here. Hugh Cuming and Andrew Garrett, both celebrated Pacific
collectors who somehow avoided making headlines on "Over-collecting" during the last century, were both indiscriminate
collectors. Garrett did not blush when he wrote that he collected 1,500 specimens of Mitra papilio at Raiatea "in a few days"
(1880, Journ. Conch., 3:27).
Dr. Maria Schilder in her little book "Die Kaurischnecke" (Leipzig, 1952, 1-47), gives us an insight on over-collecting; the
figures quoted by the author were extracted from entries in old business ledgers on the export of Cypraea annulus and C.
moneta to West Africa.
In the excellent paper on the variability of the West Australian cowry Zoila friendii (Journ. Malac. Soc. Austr. 9:3-24,
1966), B. R. Wilson and R. Summers have recorded an unique specimen from the northern limit of distribution: it has been
collected in 25 fathoms off False Entrance in Shark Bay. The shell's relative breadth (expressed in per cent of length) is
59: it agrees with the mean of 9 deep water friendii collected off Geraldton to Rottnest Is., and it is intermediate between
the "usual breadth" (i.e. the range of the central two thirds of shells) of friendii from the southernmost west coast of
Australia (52 to 56) and that of vercoi from its western south coast (61 to 68).
Meanwhile I have examined two other specimens collected in Shark Bay: The first shell, which has been figured above, is no.
798 in coll. A. Schelechoff (Brisbane, Qld.); its formula (length in mm, relative breadth, number of labial and columellar
teeth) is 71/66.25:18 (posterior columellar teeth obsolete). The second shell coming from "very deep water" in Shark Bay is
in coll. A. Kalnins (Maylands, W.A.); its formula is 67/68.28:24, the shell is not fully grown as the chestnut dorsal
markings are confused and cloudy, the margins are less dilated, the lateral spots very small, and the columellar teeth well
developed along the whole aperture.
Therefore, both specimens from Shark Bay are much broader than the friendii from False Entrance so that they look like
vercoi; besides the outer lip is crossed by brown striae which merge in the teeth so that the lip recalls thersites (in
Kalnins' shell the striae become confluent longitudinally in the central third of the lip, comparable to Erosaria guttata),
but the inner lip is uniformly blackish brown from the margin as far as to the aperture as it is in true friendii. After
discovery of some more specimens this northernmost deep water cline possibly will deserve a racial name.
Five specimens of [Cypraea] Notadusta superstes (Schilder, 1930) {Zool. Anz., 87:115} have recently been obtained by Mr. H.
C. Gay and Miss J. Pincott from dredgings at Tonga. The specimens were dredged at the new wharf site, 1-1/2 miles east of
Nukulalofa, in 0' - 30'; some of the specimens, although dead, are in a good condition.
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