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Tortella
The underwater area well off Kahi Point is a good spot for Cypraea tigris. A skin diver can have a good day in this area. I
have collected Conus retifer there also. Figs. 1 & 2:
Strombus mutabilis
Swainson, 1821
(fossil) taken by C. Weaver
at 20 ft. elevation, Kaena
Point, Oahu. Length 30 mm.
Photos - Weaver -- Actual size
Figs. 3 & 4:
Strombus ostergaardi
Pilsbry, 1921
(fossil) taken by C. Weaver
at 15 ft. elevation, Nanakuli
Sea Cliffs, Oahu.
Length 21 mm.
[Unfortunately, my copy of this issue
is a Xerox copy, made when text
clarity was about all that one could
hope for! makuabob]
These are the only fossil areas that I have worked. However, Cliff Weaver, Pat Burgess, and many other HMS members have
collected many fine shells, either universally extinct or extinct in Philippines, at other locations. Traveling on around the
island of Oahu these fossil beds may be found at:
1. The Waianae quarry, where the two specimens of Ostrea kamehameha were found. This is located about three quarters of a
mile east of the former location of the Waianae railway station.
2. At Kaena Point, Cliff Weaver has collected Strombus mutabilis and Reg Gage collected several species of Lambis. Other
species such as Conus tulipa, Patella melanostoma, and Septifer kraussii have also been collected there.
For those of you who have access to the Kaneohe Marine Corps air station on Mokapu Peninsula there is some fine fossil
collecting available on the peninsula side of Nuupia fish pond and along the coral plain making up the western part of the
peninsula. Sixteen species, including Cassis vibex and Strombus ostergaardi, have been collected in this area.
Professor Jens Ostergaard reported in a Bishop Museum paper on the fossils of Molokai and Maui. According to Professor
Ostergaard, fossils on Molokai exist only in an area of marine rock exposed by stream beds (Kalamaula Stream and its
tributaries) about one and a half miles west of Kaunakakai close to the area known in 1939, as Coconut Grove. On the Island
of Maui, Professor Ostergaard reported fossils found only at an area known as Target Range Gulch about six miles southeast of
Lahaina, again in areas eroded by stream action.
Several of the species collected seem deserving of special comment, as well as do a few species that I did not see or
collect.
One of the latter group is Cypraea ventriculus. This cowrie, found in Fiji and Tahiti, was not collected or seen in
collections or the market place. I believe it is there, but lives deeper than the shallow areas covered. Another widespread
cowrie not seen or collected was Cypraea chinensis. Cypraea globulus, which were collected by Phil Harris (deceased) many
years ago on the beach in American Samoa, was not collected or seen. This was also true of Cypraea mappa although one
specimen was seen in the market. There are other species such as Cypraea testudinaria, Cypraea serrulifera, Cypraea mariae,
Cypraea yaloka (formerly humphreysi), Cypraea eburnea, Cypraea cernica, Cypraea limacina, Cypraea maculifera, Cypraea
clandestina, Cypraea scurra, and Cypraea stolida that might be collected in deeper water by a person with more vigor or by
using SCUBA. Cypraea vitellus, seen in the market and usually a shallow water cowrie, was not collected on the reef.
Two specimens of an elongated cowrie were collected alive across the bay from Pago Pago. These were most unusual shells and
probably represent an extreme variation of Cypraea gaskoini. They also have some characteristics of Cypraea cumingi. Cypraea
gaskoini has been reported by Thaanum from Fiji, and C. cumingi from Jarvis Island by Harold Jewell.
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