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Cyprea arabeca
William Swainson was an Englishman, born in 1789, who early in his life traveled extensively in the Mediterranean and then
devoted himself to studying natural history. He visited Brazil in 1816 and brought back to England with him material which
formed the nucleus of descriptions of animals which were published in a periodical which he sponsored, Zoological
Illustrations. Swainson was also the author of Exotic Conchology, a now extremely rare book which was first published in
1821. About 1850 William Swainson migrated to New Zealand where he died in 1855.
The description of the exotic cowry, C. tessellata, "The Mosaic Cowry," was published in the midst of descriptions and
illustrations of Brazilian birds and beasts in Zoological Illustrations in 1822. Following the Latin description of the shell
Swainson added the following note, "Mrs. Mawe is in possession of this very beautiful little shell; a string of them were
presented to her as coming from New Zealand: that which formed the centre was the only perfect specimen, and from that the
figure was taken." C. tessellata was also mentioned by Swainson in a sale catalogue published in 1822. The sale was that of a
collection of "...Rare and Valuable Shells which formed the Celebrated Collection of the late Mrs. Thigh" in which there were
several rare Cypraea, "...particularly C. tessellata."
The collections from which Swainson drew his description and information on C. tessellata were famous in England in the 19th
century. Mrs. Mawe was the wife of John Mawe, author of one of the first "modern" systems of classification of mollusks which
was set out in his famous little book, The Linnaean System of Conchology, published in 1823. It is apparent from Swainson's
note that Mrs. Mawe was in possession of a shell led. Mrs. Thigh was the wife of Admiral Thigh who, in the words of Swainson
"...had, from the situations in which his professional eminence placed him, the best opportunities of procuring whatever was
the most valuable and rare..," from the South Seas. Neither collection, however, contained accurate information on locales,
and for the next 60 years, in works such as those of Kiener and Reeve, the habitat of C. tessellata was generally ascribed to
New Zealand.
Apparently the first person to attempt to pinpoint the habitat of C. tessellata was Andrew Garrett who in 1879 in his
Catalogue of Cypraeidae Collected in the South Seas states that C. tessellata"...is found only at Sandwich Islands. We
obtained beach specimens on the west coast of Philippines and on the north coast of Kauai. It is generally recorded from New
Zealand, but I very much doubt its occurrence there." Despite Garrett's statement, however, Roberts in Tryon's Manual of 1885
still listed the habitat as "New Zealand and Sandwich Islands."
Finally, in 1895, Robert Standen reported in a note in the Journal of Conchology that he had "authentic information" on the
precise habitat of C. tessellata. Standen noted that at an exhibition at the Manchester Branch of the Conchological Society
of Great Britain there were "...two examples collected on a sandy beach at Kahuku, Oahu, Sandwich Islands, in 1891, by Mr. E.
Worthington, who was present at the meeting, and gave an interesting account of his finding them associated with Trivia
madagascariensis {Cypraea granulata}, C. caput-anguis {Cypraea caputserpentis}, and numerous other species of lesser note."
The discovery of S. erythrinus erythrinus in Fiji will necessitate a taxonomic revision of this species. Dr. Tucker-Abbott
(Indo-Pac. Moll. Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 81) gives the range of S. erythrinus s. str. as Red Sea, East Africa, Japan, North
Australia, New Caledonia to Philippines. The sub-species rugosus is supposed to replace the typical species in Fiji, Ellice,
Samoa and Tonga islands. The existence of both rugosus and erythrinus s. str. in the Fiji Islands proves that rugosus cannot
taxonomically be regarded as a subspecies of erythrinus. [S.] rugosus differs from erythrinus in having a lower spire, being
broader, the aperture and columella are entirely white, the 4 - 5 knobs on the body whorl are much larger and more pronounced
and the outer lip is squarely-shouldered at the top, forming a distinct point.
S. erythrinus erythrinus had been dredged in Fiji only at a depth of 60-90 feet (A. Jennings, Nadi), whereas S. rugosus is
found from 3-100 feet. Both were dredged at the same localities (Namotu Id. and Malolo Lailai, W of Nadi). The Fijian S.
erythrinus appear to be a dwarf form of this species (14mm.-18mm.), and rugosus is, on the average, twice or even three times
as large as erythrinus. [S.] rugosus outnumbers erythrinus in Fiji approximately 30:1.
The S. erythrinus s. str. from Fiji has the inside of the aperture brown, with 17 darker brown lirae. The top of the
columella has 10-11 brown spiral lirae, center part is smooth, bottom of columella and tip of body whorl are tinged purplish
brown, and bottom part of columella has 8 spiral lirae.
So far no intergrades were found. Dr. Tucker Abbott has been supplied with specimens of both forms (courtesy A. Jennings,
Nadi) and there is no doubt that a taxonomic revision of the 2 species will be made in due course.
Take for example the splendid cone, Conus prometheus Hwass (which is considered to be the world's largest cone). This shell,
while not rare, is infrequently secured by the Tipos Indicenas tribes, being worn as both an ornament and symbol of wealth by
women of the tribe. The tops of the large cones are neatly sliced off and dangle from strings of beads or leather thongs down
the back of the wearer or hang between their breasts. As a well-to-do native will exchange as much as a full grown cow for a
fine specimen of this shell, it is little wonder that collectors find them difficult to obtain.
Also very popular are the smaller and often rare Cypraea of the region such as zonaria gambiensis, picta, sanguinolenta,
petitiana, and even the West African form of lurida which are formed into strings for head and neck decoration, suplimented
with the more readily secured Cypraea annulus.
To a dedicated collectors, such use of rarities may well seem a desecration of fine shells. However, one had best look at it
philosophically with the thought that the major purpose of shells (once the animal who created them has ceased to have use
for its home) is to bring pleasure to the possessor either asthetically or scientifically and who can say who enjoys them
the most, the native or the specialist.
many shells that come from deeper waters.
We left the Navy Base in Central Zambales at 5 A.M. on December 14, 1963 and traveled south to Subic Bay. There we boarded a
40' boat that I had chartered for the day. Ten Shell Collectors (including wives) and my two children went along on this
trip.
We traveled out of Subic Bay by 8 A.M. and around the southern tip of Zambales along the West Coast of Luzon or South China
Sea to the first big Bay on the coast.
It is called Selangium Bay and is nearly 2 miles long by 2000 feet wide, all reefs and quiet water. We anchored a few hundred
yards in the Bay in about 40' of water at 10 A.M. The reef came up at a 60 degree angle here and you are in 5 to 10 feet of
water. I was the first one in the water and soon picked up a large purple mouth Pleuroploca trapezium that my little girl had
seen from the boat through a view box (or lookie-lookie box). After handing her this shell I swam but a few yards and found a
large 8" pair of Lambis chiragra. I felt this would prove to be a good shelling spot, after such quick luck. (Altogether we
got 8 specimens of L. chiragra)
In two hours of diving for shells in sand, under rocks and breaking coral with a crow bar we all came up with about 100
species of shells over 1" long. On my way back to the boat the last rock I flipped over had a 4" tiger cowry under it much to
my surprise since most of the Cypraea tigris we get in the Philippine are 2" to 3". This was the largest specimen I had seen
outside of Philippines.
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