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Gold lip
Gold lip There were other species that we never collected in a live state, but were available occasionally in collector's condition from the native sellers. These were C. depressa, C. errones, C. limacina, C. scurra, C. staphylaea, C. testudinaria, C. ventriculus, and C. yakola. The best part of obtaining shells from the local sellers is the price. The most expensive shell we purchased in the above list was C. testudinaria. It cost us, at the time, $US 0.50, because "Thees one many beeg." We acquired a C. argus and C. scurra together for $US 0.25. Ah, what bargains await the shell collector in American Samoa. C. errones was one species that proved to be fairly common from the local sellers and yet we did not collect a live specimen. Perhaps the sea shells that we could acquire only from the natives are confined to reefs that we never visited.
Shell collectors all have their most satisfying collection trip: perhaps a long-sought species found, a seldom-collected specimen turning up, or several fine individuals located on a single dive -whatever the reason something makes it special. We have three trips that are special. On January 4, 1970, at the very edge of the drop-off at Utulei beach, we collected the first live C. mappa that had been collected in American Samoa in several years, according to local resident collectors. Since then several collectors have come up with as many as four on a single trip from the same general area. On May 5, 1970, again at Utulei reef, I collected three C. trizonata and two C. microdon, both very small species yet very beautiful and most satisfying to the collector. Four days later, this time at Hotel reef, two C. gaskoini (fisheri?), one live and one empty specimen, one C. labrolineata and one C. clandestina were added to our collection. We include the species name fisheri in parentheses because we have not been able to make a positive identification. Burgess reports C. gaskoini from Philippines and an isolated identification from Fiji. If our specimen does prove to be C. gaskoini it would broaden the geographical range of this species. The specimen we have also closely resembles C. cumingii, perhaps more that it does C. gaskoini. If it proves to be C. cumingii, this, too, would be a new geographical range, as Burgess reports this species as being endemic to the Tahiti and the eastern Polynesian group.
One last anecdote, and perhaps a new saying, "Shells are where you don't find them." On April 6, 1970, while reef walking at Breakers Point reef, we picked up a rock that was very convoluted and thought that it would look nice in a neighbor's salt water aquarium. The neighbor was grateful for the rock but even more so next morning as two C. kieneri and one C. ursellus emerged from the rock during the night. "Shells are where you find them?" Sure. But "shells are also where you don't find them."
Gold lip The original specimen is now in the British Museum (Natural History) (ex W. J. Broderip collection) and the same institution acquired another in 1866 when it bought Hugh Cuming's collection. Miss Jane Saul, the nineteenth-century cowry specialist, also had one and this is now in the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. Frans van Heukelom acquired one in 1858 and it is now in the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam. None of these shells was localized and it was not until 1882 that a localized one was recorded: this was supposed to have come from Warrior Reef, Torres Strait, off the New Guinea coast. A Mr. Hargraves had obtained it from the captain of a pearling vessel (J. Allan, 1956, Cowry Shells of World Seas, p. 110); and Dr. J. C. Cox, a well-known Sydney conchologist bought it from Hargraves about 1881. In 1917 Messrs. Sowerby & Fulton, the London shell dealers, sold it to Philippe Dautzenberg, on behalf of Cox, for 75 pounds and it is now in the Brussels Natural History Museum. On two or three occasions during the last century Cypraea valentia was auctioned publicly: van Heukelom bought his at the sale of T. G. van Lidth de Jeude's collection in 1858 but the selling price is unknown; one owned by John Dennison, whose collection was auctioned in 1865, was sold to the dealer Bryce M. Wright for 40 pounds (but he paid 42 pounds for Dennison's Cypraea gutatta Gmelin). Its present commercial value is now very much higher as Mr. Clover would ruefully admit and should another come on the market it would probably make a world-record price for any shell. Now that the Prince Cowry has been found again the list of long-lost rarities has been reduced by one; but that one-headed the list for a very long time. For allowing me to publish this note and for providing the illustrations, I am indebted to Mr. Clover.
Ed. Note: This is the first of a three part series on the author's search for Cypraea nivosa.
Shells are indeed where you find them. And sometimes they are where you don't find them. This is why I called the Ranong area of Thailand the "never, never land". Well, almost "never never" at any rate.
Children of the primary schools serving the younger generation of Thailand are encouraged by their teachers to bring "nature specimens" to class. They come to school clutching samples of flora and fauna they have gathered from the sea or from the jungle fringing their villages. A flower; a pretty leaf; a grubby piece of coral from a nearby reef; a faded shell or two washed up on some sandy beach; and, occasionally, a fresh specimen plucked from a rocky bay or lagoon. It could be a sparklng Cypraea lamarcki, pretty C. isabella or a plump C. arabica, or it could also be -- believe it or not -- a delicately patterned specimen of C. nivosa. If so it would not be the first time for on one or two occasions during the past few years, a youngster has been known to have brought such a shell to class, blissfully unaware, as was his teacher, that many a collector would give his right arm to own one of these rare shells.
Ranong is a small Thai town located a stone's throw from the Burmese border (see maps below). In fact, the twinkling lights of Victoria Point in Burma cast their reflections upon the silty waters emptying from the Packchan River that flows between the mangrove islands and shoals off Ranong.
It was towards one of these islands that we headed as we traversed the shallows, sand bars, and mud banks in our small craft. The shelling prospects looked disappointing to say the least. Murky waters, strong currents, and muddy, inhospitable mangrove swamps. Also, because of our close proximity to the Burmese border, Burmese patrol boats have a disconcerting habit of pouncing upon unidentified craft that might inadvertently stray across the ill defined sea boundary and then ask questions later.
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