tao 6 May 1978 No. 242 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTEs 
in UG i 
nately the snail was not identified in the news release, 
Now another small invertebrate, an isopod to {OM 5 ae peer eae 
to be surviving in thermal waters, in the same ge ection of 
New Mexico. Mr. Mike Hatch of the New Mexico Fish and Game Depart. 
ment, in an interview by Molly Ivins for the NEW YORK TIMES last 
winter, said of the isopods, "These little eritters are real survi- 
vors. they developed when New Mexico Was COV er lentes and have 
i i h ed through al e milli years. ds 
Beet asaedadio™encp wiade ananne from saline to fresh water, 
the sea receded, they made the : 3 : 
living in the thermal springs. Man has wiped out their native habi- 
tat...There are about 2,500 of them left in this one place...the 
last colony of isopods." They have been proposed for the endangered 
species list. 
We wonder: Are there also tiny snails in this second area of ther- 
mal waters, and are such snails also survivors from a prehistoric 
sea? Contributed by Maud King 

SOME NOTES ON CYPRAEA GUTTATA Gmelin, 1791 
Robert Janowsky 
There is perhaps no other Cypraea that evokes as much excitement 
from collectors and non-collectors alike as a vividly colored speci- 
men of Cypraea guttata. The impact on the eye of a bright orange 
specimen wi its spotted dorsum and red base gives this species a 
desirability far greater than its rareness. To me it is the most 
beautiful species of its family and it is the species which repre- 
sents the keystone of our Cypraea collection. 
Cypraea guttata has always been a rather rare shell. In 1888 Mel- 
vill was able to locate eight specimens and Burgess states (1970) 
that only a few have been added to that number. [I would venture a 
guess that as of this date fewer than 100 specimens are known. They 
are deep-water Shells. The minimum recorded depth for taking live 
specimens is 40 fathoms. Although improved techniques of collecting 
are making available many of the great rarities of the past, one 
still has to rank Cypraea guttata among the rarest of its family. 
The species has a rather widespread distribution. Its northernmost 
boundary seems to be in southern Japan; a few beachworn specimens 
have been collected in Queensland, Australia marking its southern 
limit; specimens have been collected at New Hebrides Island and at 
New Britain, and at the Thailand/Burma border, to mark its eastern 
and western distributional range. In the past few years a great 
number of specimens have been collected in the central Philippines 
by the use of mesh nets set in very deep water As late as 1970 no 
specimens were recorded from the Philinvpi hi i t1 
th : ppines which now is apparently 
€ center of its population. The di i i 
apie ° iscovery of the species in the 
around Cebu and in the area nas ie gs i 
tute two Pi : fe) he coast of Burma consti- 
extensions of range fcevi i 4 
ter of guttata's distribution ously it was felt that the cen 
utional range was in central Melanesia. 
There are at least three distin 
ie ct geomorphical variations of Cypraeé 
sareata. One variation, Erosaria puttata azumai, was hie — 
Thi : : 
se 7 eee ah apr, lighter in color and more roundly inflated 
orms. It is also somewhat lighter in weight. The 
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