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Capis raw
The photograph reproduced above represents the holotype of Gisortia gisortiana pterophora SCHILDER (1927) from the Middle
Eocene of northern France (Boisgeloup near Gisors); it is 26 cm. long (about 10.4 inches). The curious lateral appendices and
the dilatation of the posterior beak are absent in Gisortia gisortiana PASSY, the length of which varies from 22 to 29 cm.,
so that the unusual characters of pterophora may be interpreted as a sign of beginning degeneration. The photograph was been
made by Mr. V. J. Stanek (Prague) in 1928; an exact drawing of three views of this specimen has been published by the writer
in 1930 (Proc. Malac. Soc. London vol. 19, pl. 11, fig. 14-16). But Gisortia gisortiana is not the largest cowry: the last
representative of the group destined to become extinct is Gisortia hoernesi LEFEVRE from the Upper Eocene (Priabonian) of
northern Italy of which inner casts only are preserved: but the shell must have been at least 35 cm. long (14 inches).
There is still another group of fossil cowries which tend to gigantism, and are even more interesting to malacologists
studying living species only: for it is geologically younger than the Gisortiinae, and it is closely allied to a living group
of species . Zoila (Gigantocypraea) gigas McCOY lived in Middle Miocene (Balcombian) times (about 20 million years ago) in
about the same area (Victoria) as the recent Zoila (Zoila) thersites GASKOIN lives (south Australia), which is closely allied
to gigas so that the two species can be separated subgenerically at most. But while thersites becomes at most 92 mm. long
(coll. SUMMERS), the largest gigas measures 215 mm. (British Museum): it is a well preserved shell showing the total
reduction of columellar teeth as it is in Gisortia, too. In Zoila, the giant members with obsolete dentition also became
extinct, whereas the smaller, more denticulate species survived.
It will be observed, that the largest living cowry species, Macrocypraea cervus shows similar tendencies as the dying
Gisortia and Gigantocypraea though yet in a lesser degree: gigantism, wide aperture, flattened fossula, and irregularities in
columellar dentition. Possibly it may be the next living cowry to become extinct.
It was a somewhat frustrated group of adventurers that gathered at the jetty at Lumut on the first day of the Chinese New
Year. They included Jack Fisher, Stephen Chum, Alan and Mrs. Tideman and their rugged three year old son David plus two
aqualungs, ten large air cylinders, and other underwater equipment. Five days of holidays lay ahead, and now; the Captain had
orders that the boat could now only take us to Pankor Laut. Originally it was to have taken us to the Sembelans, a group of
nine islands, ten miles out beyond the Pankors and their silty water. This island we had thoroughly investigated last
November. Telephone calls to Telok Anson in Penang were in vain as all the Harbor officers were taking advantage of the long
holiday. It seemed that my 500 mile journey from Singapore, Jack and Stephen's 300 mile trip from Kuala Lumpar and Alan and
my family's 300 mile run down from Penang were to be virtually wasted, the next five days were to be spent going over ground
we had already covered without much success.
Some relief from the depressing atmosphere came when, taking advantage of the delay, Stephen came across a cowrie walking up
the jetty pile. He brought it to me for identification at the rest house where we were drowning our sorrows. It was Cypraea
lamarcki. I had never found one before, but I knew that they were present on the West Coast. A few months earlier I had given
Alan Kohn and Joe Rosewater the map references where they had been reported off Penang. They had had no luck, and it was my
intention to make a trip there to see if I could find one. Now, here they were. Without waiting to put on swim trunks I was
down into the water, shirt, trousers, and all. I found some round the bottom of the piles, eight lamarcki and a lovely C.
onyx. The crew's entreaties for us to get under way prevented a more thorough search, so this was put off until our return.
An hour and a half later, in slightly better spirits we anchored in "Strombus Bay." We had previously given this name to a
lovely little cove in which there were thousand of Strombus luhuanus, a species without the black edge to the aperture. We
knew that there were also Chitton [?],Vassum, some achatinus cones and a few other items which we planned to take for several
collections and which we hoped to distribute to the Museums of Malaya. A little shelling in the evening revealed nothing new.
Apparently, it was going to be a five day camping holiday instead of a shelling expedition.
Low tide the next day was at about 10 o'clock and down it went, down, down, until it seemed that somebody had pulled the plug
out of the bottom of the ocean and laid out before us were acres and acres of wonderful coral making close investigation
easy. A much larger snorkeling territory was brought within our reach than would have been the case during high tide.
Aqualunging was still more or less out of the question as visibility below 15 feet was difficult. But there before us were
hours of work . . . Soon the specimens began to come to light, Conus achatinus, textile, Cypraea arabica, and other specimens
were found in habitats we had neglected before. Staghorn coral was found to be the hiding place of many shells so this lovely
coral took quite a beating, I am afraid. Being an old coral man from way back it always hurts me to spoil such lovely
formations.
After our first morning at the coral area, I had learned a lot more about shell habitats although the specimens I had brought
up were not particularly exciting. Meeting Jack on the way up the beach after the morning's labors, I knew from his remarks
that he had come up with something good. His remark, "You are going to split when you see what I have in my bag," was a sure
indication that he had found a good specimen. It was a beautiful large Conus striatus which Jack had never collected before.
He had already uncovered several Conus achatinus and textile, and a fine Cypraea caurica in this area. Night shelling on the
rocks was fun, too, as it was incredible to see so many different species feeding alongside each other, and the Chitton [?]
were all out from their crevices making it very easy to collect these strange creatures. Night snorkeling was not too good
because the water was still some what cloudy.
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