6 American Seashells 



that Cuming returned for more only to find that the reef had sunk during an 

 earthquake, and that since then no other specimens have been found. How- 

 ever, the species is apparently widespread throughout the East Indian region. 

 Specimens have turned up since Cuming's day at Cebu in the Philippines, Am- 

 boina Island, and Piru Bay in the Dutch East Indies. A four-inch specimen 

 was found on the shore at Wahaai, Ceram Island, after a storm in 1896. In 

 addition to the existing twenty-three specimens, three were destroyed during 

 World War II and eight, formerly known to exist, are missing. A search in 

 grandmother's attic or along some East Indian beach will doubtless bring 

 others to light. 



Collectors of fancy seashells are constantly in search of specimens of 

 outstanding qualities, and although a number of species are well-known for 

 their high value or unusual beauty, the standards by which we judge their 

 rarity and attractiveness are considerably varied. The differences in our 

 appreciation of beauty are natural enough, for the colors, forms and textures 

 of seashells are numerous enough to offer appeal to almost any type of aesthetic 

 appreciation. The man who covets a brilliantly patterned Olive shell of rich 

 golden-red colors may see little in a tiny white shell which another collector 

 treasures for its intricate snow-flake sculpturings. 



For many conchologists rarity is gauged by the top price that a specimen 

 may bring; for others the important judging point is the scarcity of the spe- 

 cies in nature or perhaps the rarity of specimens in collections. Left-handed, 

 double-mouthed or distorted specimens, like misprints in stamps, are highly 

 valued by many veteran collectors. There are literally hundreds of truly rare 

 species, but most of these are deep-sea shells, some of which are known only 

 from a single specimen. Most of these are small and not particularly attrac- 

 tive. The high-priced shells are found among the showy genera, like the 

 cones, Pleurotomaria slit-shells, volutes, murex shells, scallops and cowries. 

 The Golden Cowrie is the most popular among the so-called rarities, the 

 present-day price ranging from $20 to $60. Some species may be considered 

 rarities for years and command very high prices, until they are collected in 

 large quantities. The Goliath Conch (Stromhus goliath) is worth about 

 $200 today, but collecting in northern Brazil would undoubedly bring them 

 to light in great quantities and hence would lower the price to a few dollars. 

 The Precious Wentletrap Shell {Epitonium seal are or pretiosum) of the 

 western Pacific was in such demand years ago that Chinese found it profit- 

 able to make counterfeits out of rice paste. The species is now considered 

 reasonably common and is low-priced, but genuine rice counterfeits are now 

 rare and equal in value to the price of the first-known shell specimens. 



Some of the most interesting threads of man's early history have been 

 woven around the trade routes of primitive peoples and their dispersal of 

 shells. The discovery by archaeologists in 1895 of the Red Helmet Shell 



