NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 262 May 1980 Page 5 
MORE ON CYPRAEA BARCLAYI Reeve, 1857 
(Please see NYSC NOTES 256.6,73 26125) 
find the notes by Bob Janowsky superb. 
i de a stud 
i yp i as a yardstick (as we have ma y on 
ea a Fee Oe a oription and views Zauhe ee Please pass on 
the following information which may be of neve: 3 
i : i i is found is rystobleph 
A) Species of fish from which C. barclayi is vhrystoblephus 
xegnere (Gilchrist and Thompson) commonly ape pea San is 
and is a red fish variety with an average mass oO -3kg. s far as 
I know they are only found on the Rast Coast of Africa but are most 
abundant off Mozambique and Zululand and are reef dwellers. 
B) C. barclayi is still extremely rare. Since I have been collect- 
We only five have come to light (3 gem). They were all 
ing (7 years rine : 
pen me isce off Zululand in the vicinity of Richards Bay (20 to 
S). 
30 fathom 
C) I also feel that Reeve's specimen was mislocated. 
D) We are still on the lookout for a specimen with the animal intact 
for study by Kilburn and Jenner (See“Notes on Molluscan Radula’ in 
Reefcomber). 
As a Cypraea enthusiast I 
Yours sincerely, 
L. Whatmore (Mr) 
Editor, Reefcomber 
The Natal Shell Society 
Durban, South Africa 

WHAT'S IN A NAME ? 
Cypraea barclayi for Sir David William Barclay, a contemporary of 
Reeve and a discriminating collector who lived for several years in 
Mauritius and collected many rare marine shells there. (S. Peter 
Dance in“Shell Collecting, An Illustrated History,” p.215.) 
Cypraea gondwanalandensis is easier to read and pronounce when one 
is familiar with the theory that at one time all the continents were 
fused into one mass ("Pangaea") which at the end of the Permian 
Period started to divide into the northern "Laurasia" and the south- 
ern "Gondwana." (See:“Those Shifty Continents! by Robert S. Dietz, 
Sea Frontiers, I.0.F., July-Aug. 1971, 17(4) 204-212.) Webster 
gives us: "Gondwana land. Geol. A hypothetical land area which is 
believed at one time to have connected South Africa with India." 
dr 

CYPRAEA GONDWANALANDENSIS Burgess, 1970 
Robert H. Janowsky 
From time to time I receive a specimen to st i itin 
that I find it difficult to confine my tronics tot Se oe an 
instance occurred a few weeks ago when I received the specimen of 
sipraca gondwanalandensis whose photograph accompanies this article. 
I have for many years felt a rather prejudicial dislike for the 
Cypraea species that are found in the waters in and around the Cape 
oF South Africa. Most of these species are not ever found in livin 
condition and so lack the attractive luster and patterns that make 
