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Capis shells
Capis shells The Wheatley specimen is slightly faded, to judge by recent descriptions; the base is white, the markings on the dorsum chestnut and the spots on the margins gray brown. The aperture is almost toothless though the specimen appears mature. Our "cowry hound," Jean Cayey pointed out a peculiarity of this specimen: a large number of the marginal spots are located in concave depressions giving the shell a dimpled appearance.
The semi-sea shell Pseudocypraea adamsonii Sowerby has been regarded as a typical West-Pacific species, as it ranges from Japan and the Marshall Is. to New Caledonia, and from the Philippines to the Tuamotu Is.; the occurrence in Mauritius indicated by Lienard (1877) has not been trusted, as Lienard's indications often proved to be false.
However, in 1964 I examined a beach shell which had been picked up at Eilath in the northernmost Red Sea and is preserved in the University of Tel Aviv, Israel (NS. 721). The hardly-worn shell (10.1mm) is a typical P. adamsonii, though the brown dorsal blotches are confluent along the margins.
Moreover, I recently received, from Mrs. Gene Webb, Nanyuki, Kenya, a small shell for identification and return, which she had collected alive on the outer coral reef at Shanzu, ten miles North of Mombasa, Kenya: it proved to be a typical P. adamsonii! The figured shell is 9.8mm long, with the usual five greyish-brown dorsal blotches and with 11 brown dots along the right margin. According to Mrs. Webb, the extended mantle of the animal was clear-yellow (a little darker than lemon-yellow).
Therefore P. adamsonii evidently is not restricted to the Pacific, but it occurs, though far less frequently, also in the Indian Ocean.
Capis shells In Truk, the problem was a different one. Many sandy beaches surround the island, but everywhere the many bonjos (native toilets built over the water) along the shoreline make diving in the lagoon near the island unattractive and a potential health hazard. In Truk it is easy and less expensive to rent a boat, but the nearest islands for diving are about forty five minutes away and the outer reef much farther than that.
The highlight of our trip to Micronesia was the week we spent at Ant Atoll. Diving and collecting conditions were ideal and varied. They were so interesting we spent two sessions of three or four hours each in the water every day. I shall never forget being "serenaded" on New Year's Eve by frenzied percussion rhytPhilippine Shell played by natives in dugout outrigger canoes around the yacht. Without our friends and the yacht the trip to Ant Atoll would have been impossible.
W. Huibert Sabelis, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto 5, Canada, writes, "Enclosed are colored slides of Cypraea tigris which is different from the usual color pattern. Please let me know if similar specimens have been collected. This specimen came from Fiji."
From the appearance of the shell (see [left]) it is probably slightly sub-adult and has not yet deposited its completely adult color pattern. Similar color pattern has been observed in Philippine C. tigris.
Photo - uncredited
The Philippine C. guttata
trawled from 100 to 150 fathoms
(600 to 900 feet) depth in June, in '68.
A recent communication from Mr. C. C. Finley, Navcomsta, Box 12, FPO San Francisco, California 96656, tells of his acquiring C. guttata from the Philippines.
"I am presently stationed at Naval Communications Station, San Miguel, Philippines. I have been here over a year and have really enjoyed my tour of duty, collecting shells while snorkeling in surrounding waters.
"Recently my friend Joe Bibbey called me and asked how much money I could get together quickly as he had located a rare shell. I thought he might have located a C. aurantium Gmelin, 1791, as a few specimens have been found since I have been here. This was not the case. The shell he had located was C. guttata guttata (Gmelin, 1791). Surprised is a mild word for what I felt about this shell. I had seen a few specimens of this exceedingly rare shell before but never dreamed of owning one. The length of this shell is 65mm x 39.5mm x 33mm. It is fully adult and was collected in 100 to 150 fathoms by trawler's nets.
"I have written W. and Mrs. Cate and found that the shell from the Philippines should be called Erosaria (Erosaria) guttata guttata (Gmelin, 1791). I have checked with W. Fernando Dayrit and Mr. Mario Mereada. Both say this is the first live-collected specimen of C. guttata collected in the Philippines.
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