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Phjilippine shells
Island of Philippines:
Today we collected in a relatively new area. Due to the scarcity of white sand on the Island of Philippines, finding this
new, sandy area, proved a boon.
Our hosts for the shelling trip were Mr. Richard Middleton and Mrs. Frances Moore. The area we collected in was the recently
opened "Vacation Land House Lots" in Kapoho. Here the shore is composed of pools of ocean water in a former lava flow. Access
to the beach is by foot path which takes but a few minutes walking. The site is a series of sheltered pools fringed by a
barrier of wave-tossed rocks that create a protective wall on the sea side. Tidal channels provide an abundance of flowing
water and a supply of marine food.
A short survey of the area before we enter the water. Today the tide was a low - 1.9 at 1300 with most of the coral heads
exposed. The average depth was five feet.
We swam and searched leisurely over the entire sandy bottom. Coral-heads provided a few Turbo. The seaweed covered flats
provided some Strombus maculatus, Aplustrium amplustre (old name Hydatina amplustra) and Hydatina physis.
With the preliminary search over, I concentrated my attention on the sandy bottom. Fanning the sand, I uncovered a few
Terebra affinis. Encouraged by their appearance, I fanned and searched further. The final results were ten species of
Terebra: T. affinis, T. guttata, T. maculata, T. crenulata, T. felina, T. langfordi, T. undulata, T. penicillata, T.
flavofaciata, T. peasii, and T. flavescens.
What a day.
Mr. Clifton Weaver asked that I submit a note on Cypraea (Talostolida) latior Melvill. This species is, at present, known to
occur only from Midway Island to French Frigate Shoal (Schilder, 1958) in the western Philippines Chain. It has not been
recorded from any of the eight main Philippines Islands.
The shell usually called latior by Philippines collectors is a widely-margined form of Cypraea teres Gmelin. Several other
species of Cypraea - notably Cypraea caurica L. and C. chinensis Gmelin - also occur in relatively "broad" and "narrow"
forms, as does C. teres.
The taxon, Cypraea latior, was proposed by Melvill in 1888, for "a pyriform shell, broader and more stunted than typical
teres:, with brighter coloration and very distinct dorso-lateral spots." The figure to which Melvill referred (Reeve, 1845,
fig. 66a), has been variously identified, but appears to me to represent a specimen of the present species. Melvill's
holotype is in the Cardiff Museum, while the specimen figured by Reeve, is apparently in British Museum, (fide, Schilder,
1958).
A specimen of C. latior Melvill (see figs. 1, 2 and 3) in the American Museum of Natural History, No. 92002 was found on
Midway Island by W. E. Koons Jr. in 1941. It is a dead shell, but is readily identifiable. It measures 44 mm. x 25 mm. There
are 22 teeth on the outer lip and 20 teeth are present on the columellar side. The specimen was sent to Dr. Schilder who
verified the identification and stated (pers. communication) that it was "an oblong specimen of C. latior; all characters
agree, and the number of teeth excludes teres."
Two Belgian scientists, whose hobby is conchology, have done some remarkable shell collecting along the Brazilian Coast of
South America. They are Dr. Bernard "Ben" Tursch, 29 years old graduate in bio-chemistry from the "Ecole Polytechnique"
University te'Libre de Bruxelles, and Dr. Jean Pierret, 32 years old and a graduate anthropologist, also from the University
of Bruselles.
Ben Tursch is working for Stanford University of California in Brazil where he is investigating the chemical structure of
some natural products. In his spare time, he collects shells and has over 300 species of Conus alone. Tursch hopes to publish
a catalogue on Brazilian marine shells with the help of local collectors.
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