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Shellcraft
The first specimen of C. bregeriana in Fiji was collected by Mr. A. Jennings at an island off the Nadi coast. Subsequent
specimens were dredged by A. Jennings at Momi (West coast of Viti Levu), however, they were dead. The first live specimen was
dredged by Jennings and myself off the island of Akuilau (W off Nadi) in only 2 fms depth. The locality was sandy bottom,
broken coral, and a lot of short stubby green weed. C. lutea humphreysii is found in the same locality, clinging to the
leaf-like weed. The bregeriana fell out of a crevice from a coral which was brought in by the dredge.
The six specimens so far found in Fiji (3 live-collected and 3 beach) compare fairly well with New Caledonian specimens, and
differ only slightly in the following characteristics:
1. They are much smaller.
2. The lilac rim around the dorsum is extremely pale.
3. The marginal dark brown spots are absent.
4. The white "dust spots" extend much farther up the dorsum (labial side up to 1/3 of the height of the shell and on the
columellar side they reach half way up the dorsum).
The mean measurements and teeth count of the 6 Fiji specimens are as follows: Length: 18mm, Width: 62% of Length, Height: 51%
of Length, Lab. T: 20, Col. T: 19.
The specimens of C. bregeriana that I have examined showed that the feature of the white spots on the base and margins are a
consistent feature, lacking in all other races of walkeri. I examined the following specimens:
11 specimens in the Australian Museum, Sydney. (ex-Rossitter coll., all from New Caledonia.)
13 specimens in New Caledonian collections (Bernie. Mus., Reverce, Tourres and D. Boust coll.)
2 specimens from New Caledonia in my own collection.
6 specimens collected in Fiji.
Radula studies from a Fiji-collected specimen were made by Dr. Schilder, and his results were kindly made available for
publication in this article. Some of the radula indices were as follows: radula contained 96 plus 8 (nascentes) rows, its
entire length was 7.9mm (shell length was 12.4mm), and the breadth of the median was 0.071mm. Illustrated is a drawing (after
Schilder) of half a row of the radula examined. Dr. Schilder states that there is not the slightest difference between the
radula of bregeriana and the radula of walkeri which he examined from Dangar Besar, Saleh Bay, Indonesia. Both of these agree
with Vayssière's illustration of the radula of bregeriana from Noumea (1927).
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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