Page 8 March 1979 No. 250 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB Notgs 
Psi N24 = © UO 2924 2 SD > (> JERS laa ra 
SOME NOTES ON CONUS DUSAVELI H. Adams, 1872 
Robert Janowsky 
This very rare and very beautiful species of Conus PAR cng been an 
enigma. Until a few years ago it was known only trom P ype spec- 
imen which was deposited in the British Museum with a tius as 
the locality data. It seemed almost inconceivable tha shell 
this large and this distinctive Cote Fee Paar aye Oe 
erations o 3 
100 years. Deep water netting op Sh Lone Ory caahecnaee Caan: 
ines have once again been responsible 
sore interesting aoe ofeieng A few specimens were brought up in these 
tangle nets about two and a half years ago and a very few other 
mbodiebed have been taken since. In the past others were collected 
in waters off Okinawa but very little is known of those specimens, 
I have personal knowledge of one specimen (crabbed) collected by a 
scuba diver a few months ago. There is also a rather consistent 
rumor, heard from more than one source, of 13 specimens housed ina 
very small private museum in a rather remote portion of the island, 
but I can not locate anyone who has personally examined them. 
Readers familiar with the illustration of Conus dusaveli in S. Peter 
Dance's "Rare Shells" will at once notice that the specimen pictured 
by Dance (which is the type specimen) and the specimen here illus- 
trated do not bear very much resemblance to one another save, that 
both have a similar pattern. The type specimen is a much more slen- 
der shell, with a very much higher spire, and a much greater slope 
at the shoulder. For a while both Mr. Dance and Dr. R. Tucker Ab- 
bott expressed doubts that the specimens being found in the Philip- 
pines were indeed the same species as the type specimen. On his 
recent visit here Dance was able to examine a color photograph of 
the specimen here illustrated (which was in my possession for about 
a year) and to study the marvelous specimen in the collection of 
Mrs. Francis Harmon of New York City. Dance is now of the opinion, 
which I strongly share, that the difference in appearance can be at- 
tributed to the fact that the type specimen is sub-adult. The type 
specimen measures only about 2" in height while the illustrated 
shell (and most of the others that I have seen) have measured closer 
to 3" in size. It is not at all unusual for sub-adult specimens of 
Conus to differ from adult specimens by having spires of greater 
height and more acutely sloping shoulders. 
The illustrated specimen is of a fully mature Conus dusaveli and 
measures just short of 76mm in height. Notice that the lip is, at 
the posterior end, higher than the shoulder (a sign of maturity), 
and compare with the specimen illustrated in "Rare Shells." The 
overall color of this shell is light caramel. The body whorl is 
girdled by numerous interrupted brown bands; white spots at irregu- 
lar intervals give these bands a dot and dash appearance. Three 
heavy, dark brown bands (also interrupted) are also present on the 
body whorl. The aperture is yellow within, changing to white as 
the lip is approached. From the mid-dorsum to the lip there is a 
gradual decrease in color and pattern until at the lip both are vir- 
tually absent; this again is a factor that can be seen in other 
Conus having the same general configuration as Conus dusaveli when 
fully adult. The pattern and color of this specimen are less dis- 
tinct than other less mature specimens that [I have examined. I, in 
fact, awarded a "Shell-of-the-Show" award to a very beautiful (but 


