page 6 May 1980 No. 262 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES 
live-collected Cypraea the shells most sought after by collectors. 
t must admit, too, that I was singularl ye 
ondwanalandensis despite Rirdoaee wort Tubuene nett ooicane ae 
scription in his 1970 monograph, “The Living Cowries!! > ane not 
even certain, until Seeing this specimen, that despite his careful 
analysis of seven specimens of his new species that are consistent- 
ly different from the closely related cypraca fuscorubra Shaw, 1909 
that Burgess! shells should not be treated as a synonymy of the ; 
earlier species. My opinion has been changed radically by my study 
of this specimen, which is the first live-collected specimen of 
cypraea gondwanalandensis in the United States and is one of the 
four live-collected specimens that I know to exist in the world -- 
of which one is in South Africa and another in West Germany. 
The reader is referred to Burgess' description for exact points of 
difference between Cypraea gondwanalandensis and Cypraea fuscorubra, 
put I will note briefly some of the differences for you: 
Te structure and formation of the teeth differ, as C. gondwanaland- 
ensis consistently has fewer labial teeth than soluse1 las "teeet 
while in ©. fuscorubra the situation is reversed. In GC. gondwana- 
landensis the columellar teeth do not end at the andi ii eaten 
tend onto the base. C. gondwanalandensis is more thickly calloused 
at the lip which in C. fuscorubra is much thinner and more delicate. 
Burgess also points to differences in color and pattern and I sus- 
pect that when we are able to compare live-collected specimens of 
both species, side by side, even greater differences will be evident. 
I consider Burgess' analysis to be most remarkable in view of the 
fact that ten years ago only dead specimens were available for him 
to study. Burgess' specimens were beach collected and were found in 
an area encompassing the Cape of Good Hope on the west and East Lon- 
don on the east -- the exact southern tip of the continent. 
The specimen of Cypraea gondwanalandensis here studied is 33.3mm in 
length, 21.1mm at maximum width, and T6.9mm at its highest point. 
It was taken by a scuba diver at a depth between 10 and 20 meters 
among weeds off Camps Bay -- slightly southeast of Capetown. The 
color of the dorsum is tan/grey with an irregular pattern of dark 
brown blotchy spots which are heavily concentrated from the mid- 
dorsum toward the columellar side of the shell; these spots are al- 
nost absent from the mid-dorsum to the labial side except for a few 
just above the labial margin. The margins and base are brown/orange 
and the labial margin is thick and heavily formed, giving the spe- 
cies its characteristic shepe. The teeth are stained wita red/ 
brown and number 19 on the labial side and 23 on the columellar 
side. The labial teeth extend almost to the edge of the base at 
the center of the shell and to the very edge of the margins at the 
canals. On the columellar side the central teeth extend approxi- 
nately 1/3 of the way onto the base and to the edges of the canals. 
The teeth are formed on the columella which is white and has a 
rather shallow fossula at its anterior end. The base is inflated 
on the columellar side but tapers sharply at the canals. The aper- 
ture is straight for most of its length and curves sharply at the 
Posterior canal. The canals are quite thickly produced a ae 
species, unlike those in 0. fascor are. eae eprom within a rather 
glazed i ill Slightly protuber 
over but is stil gently ference is that C. gondwana- 
deep umbilicus. One more consistent dif 

