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Export Venturing further out into the lagoon I discovered areas populated with colonies of Lambis lambis – all rather large, long-spined, and richly colored specimens – and in other parts Murex ramosus, which were, however, generally badly eroded and not worth taking. Once, coming across a funny little knob in a sandy hollow near some coral, I dug in with my hand – to come up with a live 5-inch Cypraecassis rufa, the first one I had ever found myself anywhere.
On following days I concentrated more on the intriguing mid-lagoon channel which was studded on both sides with remarkably large coral boulders rising to within a few feet of lowest low-tide level from depths of 25 to 30 feet. A prize find was a large, 100mm Cymatium gutturnium, alive and in perfect condition, that had been hiding inside a narrow crevice. Here I also found several Drupina lobata, the curious Indian Ocean form of D. grossularia, which may or may not be a full-fledged species of its own.. They always seemed to occur in pairs. Lambis scorpius was lying exposed on the coral rubble covered sides of the steeply sloping channel in about 20 feet – the limit of my skin-diving prowess – while L. crocata, and L. arthritica were rare and limited to the outer reef ramparts accessible only during minus tides. Such low tides occurred only a few times during my stay. These were the "sea shell days": on the flat, solid reef-plateau rising from the sea for only 15 to 30 minutes Cypraea histrio, C. vitellus, C. carneola, and C. helvola were quite common. C. chinensis I found both under coral in the lagoon and on the reef, all with a beautiful, deep coloring of the base and sides. Most sought-after were C. mappa and C. stolida. I found none myself, but native fishermen had a few for sale, and some fellow holidayers found 3 or 4 C. stolida under coral blocks in the lagoon. There was one specimen that tallied in all respects, for me, with the description of subspecies fluctuans Iredale as given by Messrs. C. C. Woltz and D. B. Becher in their valuable little guide pamphlet "Collecting sea shells in Dar-Es-Salaam." I was unfortunately not able to obtain this specimen from its finder, but could inspect it very thoroughly, and found it to be of apparently sub-adult age.
Certain other sea shells, notably C. teres and C. nucleus, seemed to be more widespread outside the reef. SCUBA divers brought up specimens from 10 to 20 meters depth. I once accompanied them on a diving excursion, but having only goggles, had to remain near the surface above a large coral plateau that rose to within 4 or 5 meters of the surface from surrounding greater depths. It was a breathtaking experience for me. Never had I seen fish in such numbers. Above and between the canyons and slopes of the bizzarely shaped coral gardens literally thousands of fish in all sizes were moving about in an unbelievable pandemonium of color. Once an immense swarm of perhaps one to one-and-a-half foot long silvery fish completely enveloped me, parting in two streams only feet away from my face, and joining again behind my back. In one place, I discovered a large leopard trigger fish which let me approach on short dives to within a few feet. Museum aquaria gladly pay 500 US-Dollars for this rare beauty. The few coral plates I managed to turn over yielded, however, no shells, while the SCUBA divers working in deeper water nearby brought up quite a lot of sea shells.
Export From Fiji we flew to New Zealand and her coldwater beaches where time only permitted me to beach collect pectens and whelks. I was given Voluto, a growth series of Haliotis and also of Papulosa. People everywhere were so generous with shells that I ended up buying two extra bags, hand-carrying one all over New Zealand and Australia and mailing home four big boxes. Such wonderful people!
Photo - uncredited
Perhaps not the
Cypraea marginata
Virginia lost her heart to, but
similar specimens of this rare
and beautiful cowry are available
from Australian dealers at prices
ranging from $50.00 to $200.00,
depending on size, quality, and
condition of specimen.
Before leaving Honolulu I had corresponded with shell dealer Lance Moore of Sydney. On my arrival he invited me to a meeting of the Conchology Section of the Royal Zoological Society of Sydney at the Sydney Museum where he gave a great talk on world cones illustrated with several big cases of fine and famous cones. I saw particularly fine specimen of Conus prometheus, C. dalli, C. betulinus and C. circumactus to name a few of the well-known cones. People in Sydney are keen and ecstatic over Conus bullatus – aren't we all?
I took along with me only endemic Philippine shells for trading. Among them were some five-inch Philippine Cypraea tigris, also C. granulata, C. sulcidentata, C. gaskoini, extra-nice C. tessellata and some Murex pele. These were very well received and I brought back with me a Cypraea tigris, granulata, sulcidentata, gaskoini, tessellata, teulèrei, a four and one-half inch C. hesitata howelli, a rare C. mus tuberculata, a very rare C. onyx nymphae from the Seychelles, C. eglantina niger from Noumea, New Caledonia and C. verconis from southwest Australia. Also Murex, Conus, Lambis, Strombus, Latiaxis and Rapa. Some of the above I traded for (I didn't bring home any of my Philippine shells) and some I bought.
Lance Moore and his shell family of Marine Specimens Pty., Ltd. were delightful and like everyone I met Downunder, were tremendously hospitable and generous. Marine Specimens is a meeting place for shell lovers and there I met people from France, Canada, New Caledonia and lots of Australians. There I saw a gorgeous Cypraea [( ]Zoila[ )] marginata which unfortunately I had to leave behind but I am still hoping! I also met and was graciously entertained by Noel and Vera Gomersall of Sydney who have a fantastic world wide collection especially strong on Murex, volutes and pectens.
So at the end of September back to Honolulu with my goodies from this wonderful world of Downunder but good, too, to return to the home of the tessellata (Cypraea that is) and pele (Murex and otherwise.)
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