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Shell tiles
The Malaita Cypraea guttata Gmelin is now at the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia, U.S.A. and the Curator of
Mollusks, Dr. R. Tucker Abbott verified the identification. The dimensions are: length 64.7, breadth 37.8 & height 39.3mm.
I noticed with interest in the May 1962 issue of Sean Raynon Sabado the list of cowrie shells found by Mrs. M. Saul in
British North Borneo. Perhaps it will be of interest also to Sean Raynon Sabado readers to know what Cowries are found in the
Solomons. As my shell collecting area is restricted to the north eastern part of Malaita, it is quite possible that some
other cowries are found elsewhere in the Solomons which are not listed here. Also, using my own classification, it is very
likely that a few types may be more common elsewhere than they are here; viz. so far I have only found 2 Cox Cowries here
(not very broad either) and I know for sure, that they are not really uncommon in what we call the Western Solomons.
Very common:
C. annulus L., arabica L., caputserpentis Gm., erosa L., errones ehrysostomus Schilder, errones nimisserans L., lynx L.,
mauritiana L., moneta, tigris L., vitellus L.
Moderately common:
C. argus L., asellus L., carneola L., caurica L., hirundo L., helvola L., isabella L., mappa L., rhinoceros Sow., talpa L.,
testudinaria L.
Uncommon:
C. coxeni Cox, cribraria L., depressa Gray, eburnea Barnes, felina Gm., labrolineata Gaskoin, nucleus L., minoridens Melvill,
staphylaea L., tabescens Solander [=teres L.], teres L.
Rare:
C. aurantium Gmel., childreni Gray, chinensis Gmel., cicercula L., clandestina L., cylindrica Born, poraria L., punctata L.,
scurra Gmel., stolida, ventricula Lam., ziczac L.
Very Rare:
C. guttata
In some localities, as in Honolulu Harbor and in Moen Is. (Truck Is. [now Chuuk] ), recent species of cowries were once
dredged from calcareous deposits. These shells are faded in color, but brilliant so that they often become more beautiful
than the living, saturate specimens. Such shells were called "subpellucid" or "subfossil" though the latter term seems to be
questionable. Some shells of this transparent golden hue have even received varietal names, as [Cypraea] Lyncina sulcidentata
var. xanthochrysa Melvill.
Similar specimens can be obtained by artificial treatment. If you put a normal shell in a thermostat furnishing dry heat of
100°C (212°F) for one or two days, it becomes pale without losing its natural splendour, and this discoloration is permanent.
In such a manner does the brown dorsal striae of [Cypraea] Mauritia eglantina Duclos become rich golden yellow (the spire
blotch only remaining chestnut) on whitish ground, the blackish lateral spots and the chestnut teeth becoming very pale. The
interior is whitish. As the surface shows hardly any cracks, such shells can hardly be distinguished from natural subpellucid
specimens. Therefore I warn collectors to be careful in buying such beautiful semi-transparent shells, as they may be
artifacts.
Mr. W. O. Cernohorsky told me by letter that he had lost a plastic bag containing common cowries with the living animals
while collecting Fijian cowries for my studies. After several months he refound the bag on the beach. The shells had become
subpellucid!
Extending the exposure time does not alter the results, but heat of 200°C (332°F) destroys the shells. They become uniformly
pale yellow with the dark markings hardly visible, and the enamel becomes crossed by deep cracks so that it falls off in
pieces.
I would like to have stayed six months in Ceylon to cover the dozens of good diving areas including Colombo harbor, where we
found Murex palmarosa and Cypraea interrupta. But after a few more days around Colombo we checked in with the customs-house
people. They were not very happy to see us, as they insisted on checking all of our baggage which consisted mostly of very
smelly sea shells.
My reason for being in Samoa was officially medical. I was the consultant in surgery for the hospital in Pago Pago and the
community in general. Fortunately for my malacological interest there was a slack in the usually high rate of automobile
accidents, scooter injuries, and acute surgical conditions, and so I had ample time to comb the reefs. It was not pure
coincidence that my tour of duty coincided exactly with the lowest June tides!
My primary interest was cowries, but all mollusks were collected. I had good general instructions from Dr. Thomas Richert and
other members of the Honolulu County Medical Society who had been to Samoa on similar duty.
All collecting was done on the fringing reef, which was exposed at low tide and covered only by a few feet (3 feet maximum
tidal exchange) of water at high tide. This terrain proved an ideal collecting area. Dead, flat, circular coral heads had
been thrown up on the fringing reef in abundance. It was under these slabs that an amazingly rich cowrie population was
found. I collected 35 species, and increased the known range of several. I was able to make a detailed and leisurely study of
the animals of several species that I had never before collected or had failed previously to observe carefully. I gathered so
much information new to me that it was necessary to rewrite the text on 20 species for my book The Living Cowries which is to
be out in March, 1966. It was certainly the most successful and most enjoyable field trip that I have ever had.
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