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Exporter of fashion shell
Exporter of fashion shell [Transcriber's Note: The images were originally published in horizontal rows. Here, file size and the vertical format are pressing concerns. The images have been arranged vertically. Following are the original captions to the images.]
Photo below illustrates, top row, the dorsal view of Cypraea rashleighana and, bottom, C. teres. Both photos slightly enlarged.
Aperture view of same shells.
Top C. rashleighana, bottom, C. teres. Note brown dots in upper row of shells covering one-third to one-half lateral margin of base.
Cypraea subteres have fine labial teeth. sharp,
thin labial margin, and a more pronounced
posterior extremity. Slightly enlarged.
The world of philately has, since the inception of the world's first postage stamp, been bothered by forgeries and fakes of early and rare postage stamps. Man's handiwork could easily be duplicated, nature's creation may be imitated but never duplicated. That is what I thought until the day I saw my first malacological forgery.
The city of Suva (Fiji) has a market in the close vicinity of the wharf where natives sell their vegetables, fish, handicrafts and shells. Tourist business is brisk and the shell-stalls owned by Indians make a good trade on days of arrival of passenger liners. I happened to be strolling through the market keeping a look-out for the smaller and rare species of shells which usually sell at 6 cents each if you are lucky enough to spot a decent specimen. That is how I spotted the large cowry prominently displayed on the stall. A shell I had never seen before, except possibly in my dreams.
As soon as I showed interest in the shell, I had the vendor at my side, giving me some glib sales talk and mistaking me for a tourist. He stressed the fact that the shell was from extremely deep water, very rare and further volunteered information that it was called a "Tapa Cowry." He assured me that in this case he will make an exception, bear the loss and let me have the shell just for eight shillings (one dollar). The shell was a rather obvious C. mauritiana calxequina with the first layers of the dorsal enamel buffeted down and artificially repolished. The specimen was a rather crude job as some dorsal spots were still visible at the margins, however, some buffeted C. arabicas were a masterpiece. These sold quickly to tourists for 50 cents a piece (price for untreated C. arabica 6 cents), and I am convinced that many tourists thought that they had the better side of the bargain.
Exporter of fashion shell The differences in dorsal markings recall those between the East Australian Erronea subviridis and its West Australian representative E. dorsalis, the grey color and the well defined dorsal blotch of L. alfredensis also recall Bistolida stolida brevidentata. The combination of characters in size, solidity, color, and markings prove L. alfredensis to be a distinct species, as it is sympatric with L. edentula in many localities in South Africa.
The splintering of the South African Luponia and Cypraea into many sympatric species agrees with that of Triviella in the same area, and of Notocypraea along the south coast of Australia: both regions constitute the limit of distribution of sea shells on account of the lower temperature of the sea.
During a short shelling holiday on the coast of Kenya, I collected two specimens of Cypraea marginalis, quoted as the rarest and most sought after cowry of the around 40-odd species occurring along the East African coast (C. C. Woltz & D. B. Belcher: in "Collecting sea shells in Dar-es-Salaam").
The two specimens pictured [left], one in dorsal, the other in ventral view, were found in the shallow lagoon off Diani Beach, about 20 miles south of Mombasa, and had been lying in a sandy depression of the otherwise weed-covered bottom a few feet below low tide level, together with coral rubble and other shells that had apparently been washed into it
Though picked up dead, both specimens looked quite fresh. One is in absolutely perfect condition, the other only slightly dull along the dorsal line, but sides and base retain their full natural gloss. They measure 30 x 20 and 29 x 18mm, respectively, with 22 and 23 labial teeth and a similar number on the columellar side Coloring is a very light brown with numerous white, and fewer - but more conspicuous - brown spots, the latter filled in the center with bluish-white. The strongly pitted margins and flat base are whitish with a very delicate hint of lilac, spotted with a few darker lilac streaks and dots. The lucky date was 9th July, 1966. Since then I have made a repeat trip in February of this year (1969), but try as I might, I could not even pinpoint the exact spot in the lagoon again, let alone find more of this pretty, and evidently quite rare cowry shell.
In the January 1962 issue of the Philippine Shell News, page 2, I illustrated and attempted to give specific characters and distribution of these four sea shells. This brief presentation, although not therein stated, was based on careful observation of more than 1,000 C. teres, 120 C. rashleighana, 10 C. subteres and 35 specimens of the admittedly then not completely documented C. latior.
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