VOL.37 NO.1 APRIL 2007 - British Shell Collectors' Club

VOL.37 • NO.1 • APRIL 2007

PALLIDULA Page 2 

COVER PAGE 

Littorina saxatilis, Olivi, 1792 

Collected on rocks in inter-tidal pools, seaward side of Shell Island, near Harlech, North Wales. 

Collectors: Simon and Gabrielle Aiken, 9/2006. Size: 11–14 mm. Photo courtesy of Simon’s Specimen Shells Ltd.


A PROPHETIC PAINTING 

by S. Peter Dance 

Occasionally, I try my very amateur hand at a painting in 

watercolours, selecting a subject not too demanding, not too large, 

not too intricate. In my more ambitious moments I choose to paint 

shells, not the easiest of subjects to portray accurately. Rashly, 

perhaps, I had promised to do a painting of an Alphabet Cone, 

Conus spurius, for my friend Harlan E. Wittkopf of Algona, Iowa. 

For Harlan no object is more desirable than the Alphabet Cone, so 

called because its markings often resemble letters of the alphabet. 

Mischievously, I decided to add some embellishments of my own to 

the natural pattern of the shell I had chosen as my subject. 

Eventually, the initials ‘H’, ‘E’, and ‘W’ featured in my hastily 

executed sketch of Harlan’s favourite shell. Tongue in cheek, 

I dashed it off to him. 

Harlan thanked me effusively, delighted that his favourite shell had 

been personalised. From then on he scrutinised closely the 

markings of each one he found. In truth, using a little imagination, it 

is not difficult to find letters on this cone shell, but it is a different 

matter when you are looking for specific combinations of letters. 

Harlan, it may be correct to assume, was looking for a specific 

combination - and he found it! One evening, he phoned to say he 

had picked up an Alphabet Cone 

on a beach at Sanibel Island, his 

Three Alphabet Cones from Sanibel 

Island, collected and photographed 

by Harlan E. Wittkopf (born 1947). 

Two display his initials; one of 

these is also marked ‘47’. 

happy hunting ground for his favourite shell, on the last day of the 

year 2005, marked with his initials! A photo of it followed. As if this 

was not enough, he phoned some weeks later to say he had found 

another. On one of them, moreover, he had picked out the number 

‘47’ - and he was born in 1947! It began to look as though Alphabet 

Cones marked with his initials could be commonplace at Sanibel, 

but I knew they weren’t. I suspected, too, that similar combinations 

of letters and numbers would be less likely to reveal themselves to 

someone with a different set of initials and a different birth date. 

Perhaps Harlan’s motto is ‘Seek and ye shall find’. 

Having found two examples of the cone marked with his initials it 

would seem that Harlan’s cup was full to overflowing, but there was 

more to come. Some of his many acquaintances hold influential 

positions in American organisations, 

among them someone associated 

with the United States Postal 

Service, someone happy to do Harlan a favour. In no time at all he 

had helped to organise the authorisation and design of an official 39 

cents postage stamp, showing a photo of three Alphabet Cones! It 

was issued in June 2006. Using a lens, it is just possible to make out, 

on two of the cones, the letters ‘H’, ‘E’, and ‘W’. By a curious chain of 

circumstances, therefore, my sketchy drawing has led to the creation 

of another, much smaller, picture that could take Harlan’s initials to the 

limits of the known world. Had I been able to predict the outcome, I 

may have sent him a more carefully executed drawing of an Alphabet 

Cone, one displaying a different set of initials! 

Watercolour sketch of an imagined 

Alphabet Cone (Conus spurius 

Gmelin) bearing the initials H, E and 

W (and the name of the artist). 

Postage stamp with a design 

based on Harlan’s photo, issued 

by the US Postal Service in June 

2006 - a unique contribution to 

conchological philately.


SHELL COLLECTING IN HALKIDIKI, GREECE 

by Carl and Craig Ruscoe 

In May 2006 my brother, Craig and I spent 2 weeks in Halkidiki, Greece collecting shells. 

In a recent edition of the Pallidula I read a very good article on collecting shells in the Athens area 

written by Linda Young. There was a very extensive list of species found, including many interesting 

micro shells. This inspired us to try out Greece for ourselves. We planned to meet up with a friend 

and fellow collector, Kyriakos, who lives in Thesaloniki. To our frustration we found out only after 

booking that he was doing his national service for 12 months and we would have to go it alone. We 

spent a very hard 2 weeks collecting. We walked 

for 150km and drove 1500km in 2 weeks and in 

total we sampled 27 beaches; there was no respite. 

The hard work paid off and we collected some 

lovely shells. I would like to tell you about our trip. 

The Growler, our friend, came on time to take us to 

the airport. Our flight took only 3 hours but we had 

to wait for an hour to collect our luggage because a 

case had got stuck somewhere and had jammed 

the whole system. Not knowing this, Craig and I 

offered to help with the unloading; our offer was 

declined. After an unnecessarily long coach 

journey, we arrived at our apartment at 4am. 

Carl with the worlds biggest pineapple !!! 

We were up at 8am the next morning eager to start collecting. After a quick visit to the local 

supermarket we started collecting on a short-turfed calcareous slope just a stone’s throw away from 

the apartments. We found about 8 interesting species of land snails and made our way to the local 

beach about half a mile away. At first the beach here looked devoid of shells. The beach mostly 

consisted of coarse sand with a couple of lines of shingle. We knew that we would have to walk to 

the inter-tidal rocks at the end of the bay, even here though it was a struggle to find shells. 

I searched in the fine grit with my nose a few millimetres from the floor and found some beautiful 

bright orange specimens of Truncatella subcylindrica. I was delighted. I had never seen this species 

with any real colour before. Craig made himself useful searching on the rocks for living Molluscs. 

A good variety of gastropods could be found on the rocks, mostly complete with resident hermit crab. 

Amongst Craig’s finds were Clanculus cruciatus, Monodonta articulata and Epitonium lamellosum. 

We then climbed up in to the pine forest overlooking the beach in an attempt to find more land snails. 

As I expected, there were no snails living in the forest. The greedy pines had drunk all the water and 

eaten all the nutrients from the soil. On our way back to the apartments we spotted locusts, huge 

centipedes and a large snake close to where we had collected that morning. We could have been 

fried! 

We set off on Wednesday quite pleased with our first day’s catch. We proceeded down to the local 

beach and headed south this time. Amongst more rocks we found many micro shells including 

Turrids, Rissoids and Nassarius. We walked on for about 1km and found our first real shell sand. 

I scraped up a bag full to process later. In the shell sand there was a good variety of micros and 

more than 50 specimens of a beautiful Cyclope species with a lovely speckled pattern, a rather 

unusual member of the family Nassariidae. We made our way back to the Themelis apartments after 

walking up and down all day, and Craig, whose lifestyle leaves a lot to be desired, nearly passed out 

with exhaustion! We had a lot of cleaning to do that evening but I still managed to put some more 

time into collecting land snails and found some Ceciloides, a blind, subterranean snail rarely seen 

alive! We then had our evening meal at a nice restaurant called the Bella Venezia. The food here is 

very good value and the service is excellent. The added bonus was that customers staying at the 

Themelis were given 10% discount cards for the Bella Venezia. Craig thought he could get away with 

giving them 10 cards and no money, it just didn’t wash! 

We had to be at reception early the next morning to pick up our hire car. While we were waiting, 

during a considerable delay, I searched for more land snails on the local slope. I managed to find 12


specimens of Truncatella cylindrica. This is a tiny member of the family Vertiginidae and quite 

uncommon. At less than 2mm long it is quite difficult to find. I put my eyes back in their sockets and 

went to reception where the Europcar driver had arrived. The driver insisted that we leave a deposit 

of 350 Euros. Craig almost exploded, insisting that no deposit was agreed when booking. The driver 

called for reinforcements and after 15 minutes of negotiations as they seemed to pluck figures out of 

the air we came to a compromise “100 Euros, you pay me now”. We finally got on the road in our 

strange sinistral car. 

We stopped at Kallithea to change money and then drove on South down the East coast of the 

peninsula. We stopped at a place called Solina. The beach here was not bad. Craig found a 

beautiful patterned specimen of Glycymeris insubrica and I found a small internal shell of a Sea Hare, 

Aplysia, the first we had collected. Musculus senhousia could be found here also in very good 

numbers. On a rock behind the beach here we also found a small population of Clausillids, yet unnamed 

and close by we found the very rare Garden snail: Helix aspersa! We made our way back to 

Fourka after only half a day of collecting as our morning had been wasted by the hire car company; 

nevertheless it was a good day. 

On our fifth day in Halkidiki we drove to one of the ports to look for fresh shells in lobster pots and on 

trawlers. After a horrendous drive, negotiating our way through the city traffic we arrived at 

Kalamaria, the main port, just south of Thesaloniki and made our way down to the jetty. 

Unfortunately there were no lobster pots here, only fishermen’s nets piled up on the jetty. The nets 

produced some interesting shells including Bolinus brandaris and Hexaplex trunculus and some nice 

bivalves including Corbula gibba and one species of Anadara. Generally though the port was a little 

disappointing. We then made our way south to a place called Nea Michaniona and pulled up by the 

jetty. The jetty produced very little but a few hundred yards down the beach here we found lots of 

larger bivalves including Venus verrucosus, Callista chione and Glycymeris bimaculata. I imagine 

these shells would have been discarded by trawlers out at sea somewhere and washed up here. 

Delighted with our finds we drove off to look for a nearby beach with good shell grit, as we had been 

given some tiny Gastropod shells by a collector in 

Thessaloniki called Kyriakos and they were 

collected at Nea Michaniona. We pulled up by a 

lovely big stretch of sand and I thought it would 

probably not be too good for shells as there were no 

rocks to be seen. To our surprise it was the best 

beach for bivalves that we had ever seen. We 

collected countless bivalves here in great condition 

including Tellina, Gastrana, Venerupis, Ruditapes, 

Donax, Anomia, Notirus, Cardita and Arca. Some 

nice gastropods could be found here also including 

the common Wentletrap, Epitonium clathrus in good 

numbers and with the best patterning we had ever 

seen. 

Collecting along the strand line at Nea Michaniona 

The following morning we had some serious cleaning to do as many of the bivalves collected at Nea 

Michaniona still had fruit inside. Just before lunch we set off north and stopped just north of Nea 

Moudania at Nea Plagia. The beach here produced very little so we carried on north. Our next stop 

was a port called Kalikatrea. At Kalikatrea there was very little on the beach and Craig was getting 

ready to cut and run. I insisted we walked up to the rocks near the jetty. Here were many nice 

smaller shells including Cyclope, Nassarius, Tricolia, Rissoids, Turrids and Truncatella. It always 

pays to make that bit of extra effort. We then drove to Nea Michaniona as we were so successful 

here the previous day. We arrived mid afternoon and the sea seemed to be much calmer this time. 

We started searching at the same point as we had started the previous day and very little could be 

found here. By the time we had walked 200 yards or so the hoards of bivalves started to appear 

again and we filled our pots. It is quite common to find shell dumps moving along the beach in this 

way, mainly depending on the wind speed and direction. The species found here were much the 

same as we had found the previous day with one or two interesting additions. We found several 

specimens of Spisula and Bornia sebetia, a small translucent wedge shaped bivalve. By 4pm the sea 

became noticeably rougher and more larger bivalves were washed up fresh including some large


Flexopecten proteus and some fantastic Tellina planata with a huge yellow blotch on white 

backgrounds. We walked on for about a mile southwards and here we collected more than 50 pairs 

of Donacilla cornea with a wonderful range of colours and patterns. We headed back to the car after 

a super day’s collecting, totally delighted. 

On our seventh day in Greece we sampled several 

beaches on the Sithonia peninsula. I had read in 

Greek travel guides that the bottom of this peninsula 

was very much exposed to the elements and thought 

that there could be some interesting species washed 

up here. Our first stop was Porto Karra half way 

down the west coast of Sithonia. This proved to be 

very poor for shells on the beach, probably because 

Set of colour variations of Donacilla cornea 

it is located deep in the Kasandras gulf and it is not 

so exposed to the open sea. As we drove south from Porto Karra we noticed a beautiful little stream 

by the roadside. After dredging the stream no freshwater molluscs could be found at all. We did 

however see many turtles and some huge frogs. The landscape on the Sithonia is breathtaking, it is 

much more mountainous than Kasandra but unfortunately the Sithonian mountains form part of the 

Serbo-Macedonian Massif range and the surface rock is primarily made up of Metamorphic Schists 

which is just no good for shell building so no land snails could be found here either. The long 

sweeping road took us right through the mountains and it seemed to be very difficult to find a way 

down to the beaches, the fact that I tend to drive like I am in a rally probably didn’t help. We 

eventually found the beach at Kalamitsi. The beach here consisted of a long sandy bay with rocks at 

either end. As we worked our way towards the rocks at the far end of the bay we began to find 

hundreds of good shells and Craig in particular did very well. Amongst his finds were Natica 

stercusmuscarum, Clanculus corallinus, a beautiful Emarginula species and one near gem specimen 

of Cirostrema cochlea, a rare find indeed! I imagine this beach could be very useful for the local 

collector, particularly after a storm. 

We pressed on in attempt to try as many beaches as possible and arrived at Sarti. In a small bay 

here, just before the main beach we collected many nice gastropods on the rocks complete with 

hermit crabs including Pisania maculosa, Sphaeronassa mutabilis, Euspira guillemeni and some 

Gibbula albida with the most striking patterns we had seen. We moved on to the main sandy bay in 

the town but unfortunately there was very little to be found there. Amongst other beaches sampled 

on the peninsula were Koufos, Toroni and Kolgria. All of these beaches produced very few shells. 

On the start of our second week in Greece we headed for the hills to the East of Thesaloniki to look 

for land snails. We passed through a lovely little town called Panorama and soon reached about 6- 

700metres altitude. We came across what appeared to be an old Limestone quarry. On a small area 

near the car we collected some lovely Zebrina, Helicella and Helix melanostoma. As I searched 

thoroughly with my nose to the grindstone I found some tiny snails called Cochlostoma. I collected 

about 15 specimens. We then set off to look for freshwater shells. We drove 40km north west to the 

Gallikos river at Mandres. The river here was quite wide but very shallow, no more than 2’ deep at 

any point with platforms here and there. At the large road bridge we found a lot of flood debris. 

Dredging the bottom sediment and the weeds failed to produce a single snail! And even the flood 

debris was disappointing. We collected some small shells in the flood debris, mostly Planorbis 

(Ram’s horn snails) and a few species of land snails which had been washed in to the river at some 

point. We began the long drive back to the resort and stopped at Afytos on the East coast of the 

Kassandra peninsula. Craig had read that Afytos was good for urchins and thought it could well be 

good for shells also. Unfortunately there was very little there. We did however collect a couple of 

interesting land snail species by the path down to the beach. It was hard going though because there 

were huge wasps there and they were not very friendly. 

The following day we decided to do a thorough search for good beaches on our peninsula, in 

preparation for our last 5 days of the holiday when we would be without transport and would have to 

rely on the local buses. The beach at Kalyves was our first stop and this was very poor for shells. 

We then tried a lovely little place on the headland just south of Fourka called Poseidi. We walked for 

about 1km before we found anything. At this point we found some very good shell grit. Within 

minutes I had found 4 beautiful specimens of Truncatella subcylindrica. I filled a bag full of shell grit


and we proceeded to crawl along the strand line picking up hundreds of micros. In addition to the 

usual common species we also collected some unusual Rissoids, Turrids, Retusa, Fossarus, Philine, 

and a beautiful little Wentletrap which I think is Epitonium pulchellum. Poseidi had proved to be the 

best beach for micros so far. We then drove around the tip of the peninsula to a small sheltered bay 

at Chrousou. The water here was so calm and there were only a few common micros on the beach. 

Just around the corner from Chrousou was another small beach. The tide here was a bit rougher and 

there were many large rocks at the end of the bay. The rocks stretched for a 

good few hundred metres out in to the sea and it was possible to wade up to 

your waist and search all the rocks. I climbed over the rocks while Craig shouted 

instructions from the shore. I collected some lovely scalariform specimens of 

Gibbula divaricata and one huge Monodonta articulata also. We finished the day 

off at Kallithea and found it was the hardest beach to access with a very long 

walk down a steep ramp, and was also one of the worst beaches for shells that 

we had seen in Halkidiki. 

On our 10 th day in Halkidiki we made one final visit to Nea Michaniona. Our third 

visit to this beach was not as successful as the previous visits. This was 

probably because it seemed to be a neap tide. Compared to most other parts of 

the world, the Mediterranean does not have big tides. However, in Halkidiki the 

differences between spring and neap tides is quite noticeable. We still 

Epitonium pulchellum 

managed to collect some nice bivalves including 2 lovely specimens of Tellina 

pulchella. This species is one of the most beautiful Tellins to be found anywhere. We did not want to 

hang around all day hoping the tide might go out so we set off for Chrousou. At Chrousou the 

previous day I had collected some nice Gibbula divaricata. Craig was particularly impressed with 

these Trochids and said they were absolute monsters! We could not miss the opportunity to collect a 

good stock of specimens. On this occasion we climbed over the inter-tidal rocks for about 400 metres 

and found countless good specimens of Gibbula and Monodonta. We collected about 50 specimens 

of divaricata 14-18mm in length! We then headed back to Fourka for an early night in preparation for 

the morning ahead when we would return the hire car. They came the next day and collected the hire 

car and were not at all impressed when they saw the milometre. The car was brand new and we had 

driven more than 1600km! 

We set off on foot along a stretch of the local beach which had produced some good shell grit the 

week before. Unfortunately, on this occasion we could not access the beach because the tide was in 

and we had to find a way round. Our only option was to climb the cliff and cut through the beach-front 

apartments. Unfortunately we were compromised and had to take evasive action. We traipsed 

across a field towards the coast and began to scale down a pine-covered slope. The slope was 

almost vertical and we had to slide down using a wire fence for support. Craig got caught up in the 

fence and ripped his new shirt. Just as I expected there was a big drop at the bottom. We had to 

negotiate our way round through more apartments and finally we had reached the beach. There were 

no shells to be found here this time so we carried on southwards for 5km and ended up in Poseidi. 

The shell grit in Poseidi was fantastic. Amongst thousands of micro shells we found 4 specimens of 

Lamellaria perspicua. Contrary to what the books say these fragile shells are very hard to find and 

I was delighted to get them. We spent an hour looking through shell grit and then walked back 7km 

along the roads to Fourka. This proved to be a much easier route than our journey there. 

On our return to Fourka we were exhausted but we still managed to drag ourselves out for some 

fodder. We had a meal at the Bella Venezia. We tried several restaurants in the resort and we had 

no complaints whatsoever. The food is very good value and the service is excellent. It is actually 

cheaper to eat out than to cook for yourselves and a lot less effort. 

We spent most of Friday cleaning shells. By this time we had collected thousands and some were 

starting to smell. One of us would clean shells and boil live taken specimens while the other would 

sort through shell grit. The biggest problem with the shell grit in Halkidiki was that there was very little 

actual shell sand. The micro shells almost always get washed up amongst grit and to take home all 

the grit would not be possible with a 20kg baggage allowance. We had to spend countless hours 

sorting through grit and just took a few small pots home of actual shell sand. I did get some time in 

the afternoon to look for more land snails locally. I did not last long though out in the heat. It had


become so hot by now that the sun was even burning through my clothes. For this reason I would not 

recommend Greece in the summer if you want to spend all day collecting out in the sun. 

On the Saturday we made one final trip to Poseidi, this time by road. I set off an hour before Craig 

because he wasn’t feeling very well. When I got there the tide was low and I could access a rocky 

inter-tidal platform. On the platform were many live Thais haemastoma but little else. The shell grit 

was a bit disappointing also on this visit. We did find some interesting micros and I bagged up a few 

kilos of grit to process later. We then visited the local supermarket to buy gifts for our nieces. The 

supermarkets and gift shops in Halkidiki have some really beautiful gifts at very affordable prices, you 

will not be disappointed. 

The following morning Craig spent searching the local rocks but very little could be found as the tide 

just would not go out. We spent the rest of the day cleaning shells and preparing for departure the 

next day. 

Monday came, the day of our return back to civilisation. At 10.30am we were told we needed to be 

out of our room by 11am. We managed to pack everything in an hour! We then had to wait for 11 

hours for our pick up to the airport. During this time I took Craig to see the turtles and we collected 

some more local land snails, including 3 specimens of Dauderbardia, a rare subterranean snail with a 

reduced ear shaped shell. Most of the day we spent sat around in the reception with all of the other 

tourists. 

Our coach came on time to take us to the airport. The flight back went without too many problems 

and the Growler was waiting eagerly at the airport to drive us back to Preston. We now had the 

unenviable task of getting thousands of shells ready for the October shell show! 

Thank you so much for reading my article. If you are planning to visit Greece we would love to hear 

from you. You can write to us at 10 Acer Grove, Ribbleton, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 6EZ. 

Species identified so far from Halkidiki 

Abra segmentum Corbula gibba Helix lucorum Plagiocardium pappilosum 

Acanthocardia tuberculata Cypraea lurida Helix melanostoma Pomatias sulcatus 

Acteon tornatilis Donacilla cornea Hexaplex trunculus Pseudochama gryphina 

Alvania cimex Donax trunculus Jujubinus exasperatus Pupilla muscorum 

Anomia ephippium Ensis ensis Lamellaria perspicua Pyrene rustica 

Aporhais pespelicani Eobania vermiculata Littorina neritoides Retusa truncatula 

Arca noae Epitonium clathrus Loripes lacteus Rissoa auriscalpium 

Arcopsis lactea Epitonium lamellosum Mactra corallina Rissoa labiosa 

Bittium reticulatum Epitonium pulchellum Mactra stultorum Ruditapes decusatus 

Bolinus brandaris Euspira guillemeni Mangiliella multilineolata Smaragdia viridis 

Bornia sebetia Euthria corneum Manzonia crassa Solen marginatus 

Bulla striata Flexopecten proteus Mitra ebeninus Sphaeronassa mutabilis 

Callista chione Fossarus ambiguus Modiolus barbatus Spisula subtruncata 

Cardita antiquata Fusinus rostratus Monodonta articulata Tellina planata 

Cardita calyculata Fusinus syracusanus Monodonta turbinata Tellina pulchella 

Cerastoderma glaucum Gari depressa Muricopsis cristatus Thais haemastoma 

Cerithium rupestre Gastrana fragilis Musculus senhousia Tonna galea 

Cerithium vulgatum Gibbula adriatica Mytilus edulis galloprovinciallis Tricolia pullus 

Chamelea gallina Gibbula divaricata Nassarius incrassatus Tricolia speciosa 

Chlamys varia Gibbula turbinoides Nassarius louisi Triphora perversa 

Chrysallida excavata Gibula albida Nassarius reticulatus Truncatella subcylindrica 

Cirostrema cochlea Gibula richardi Natica intractoides Truncatellina cylindrica 

Clanculus corallinus Glans trapezia Natica stercusmuscarum Typhinellus sowerbyii 

Clanculus cruciatus Glycymeris bimaculata Neverita josephina Venerupis corrugata 

Clanculus jusseui Glycymeris insubrica Ocenebrina edwardsi Venus verrucosa 

Cochlicella acuta Granopupa granum Paphia aurea Vexillum litoralis 

Cochlicella barbara Gregariella pectagnae Philine catena 

Conus ventricosus Haliotis tuberculata lamellosa Pinna nobilis 

Coralliophila panormitana Helix aspersa Pisania maculosa


There is a new place to spend rainy afternoons 

at West Cliff, Sheringham, Norfolk. Down at the 

beach front, tucked behind the lifeboat museum 

are restored long-shore fishermen’s sheds with 

exposed beams and flint work. This building 

has been lovingly restored by Sheringham’s 

Preservation Society and now houses Peter 

Coke’s amazing shell pictures and sculptures. 

The 92 pieces of work have been mounted in 

glass cabinets, display tables with mirrors to 

show each part of the collection at its best, at all 

angles. The walls have been painted the same 

sea blue green that Peter had at Sharrington 

Shells and so all the works look as stunning as 

ever. 

The Peter Coke Shell Museum 

by Selina Wilkins 

If you have never seen the pieces, you are in for a stimulating, mind boggling experience as Peter’s 

work incorporates many different strands. There are sailor’s valentines, pictures of animals, 

decorated fans, sculptures, decorated small boxes, mirrors and the amazing flower arrangements 

often with their own decorated vases or under glass domes. 

When you first enter the museum, hanging on the left wall, is the most amazing intricate face. This 

grotesque mask is done in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) who painted fruits and 

vegetables to make portraits. This work uses shells instead of fruits from the Conus family and 

Dentalium inaequicostaum, opercula and sea coral. This work is one of my personal favourites and 

inspired me to do my “About Face” face illusions for the Autumn 2006 show. 

The sailor’s valentines are concave towards the centre, showing off all the shells, drawing your eyes 

in. The concave shape, unique to Peter, gives him the ability to break the usual sailor’s valentine of 

having the largest shells always at the outside. He also excels at using shells with colours from 

opposing sides of the colour wheel to stunning effect, e.g. yellow and purple. One valentine is a 

Catherine Wheel of green, white and orange. Two valentines are formed 

from circles within circles; one with blue and white shells from Bahrain, and 

another showing vivid yellow, pink and white striped Tellina radiata. 

Looking very simple but I know I couldn’t do it, is the picture of the wildcat. 

The background is in sand, grey grit and crushed shells with black micro 

shells forming the cat’s shadow. The cat itself is formed out of common 

small gastropods, such as Bittinum reticulata and broken black shell 

fragments to create the cat’s spots and stripes. In a similar style with great 

exquisite detail is the stag listening on the edge of a coral forest. Also are 

the magnificent pair of framed Chinese style yellow landscapes with flaring 

branches of pale umber seaweed on which perch exotic birds with clouds of 

shimmering butterflies swarming in all directions.


There are decorated snuff boxes, a round box with minute 

mussels and green Pea Shells, another black oval box covered 

in Nerita zebra and a pink oval box with soft pink cones and 

opercula. Sometimes Peter makes a creation as a table 

arrangement or ornament, such as “Temple of Venus” which is 

named after the Venus Comb shell from the murex family. This 

is set on a red platform with red pillars and white Fusinus, white 

murex and little green sea urchins. One box is actually a casket 

which is revealed from all sides by the mirrors. It is a 17 th 

century fabric casket, sumptuously embroidered with shells, 

pearl flowers and foliage in the most heavenly pink, mauves, 

pale greens and turquoise blues. Opened it reveals a conservatory filled with wonderfully delicate 

flowers and a small fountain. 

It is hard to choose from all the works, 

as to which is the most stunning, 

extraordinary, amazing. I would say the 

shell flower arrangements are a 

testament to Peter’s eye for detail of the 

natural world and selection of the best 

shells to create flower form. One 

arrangement is a spectacular seven 

tiered floral tower of over 100 varied 

flower heads and one butterfly. I confess 

I was so stunned at the 100 flowers 

I have yet to find the butterfly. These 

shell flower petals are made from 

different Tellinas, mussels, scallops, 

Nucellas and blue limpets, whereas sea 

urchins, urchin spines, small Gibbula or other tiny gastropods form the flower nucleus and stamens. 

Peter even makes his own leaves. Recognisable are the yellow, pink or peach roses, pink camellias, 

chrysanthemums, passion flowers and lilies yet all made from shells. 

Peter’s work is an inspiration to 

anyone who has too many shells of 

one species, or part fragments of 

specimens, as well as those strange 

fishy components left on beaches, 

such as, sharks teeth, jaws, urchin 

spines, shrimp claws, seaweed and 

coral. It is a must for anyone who is 

interested in shell art to see what can 

be done with time, creativity, patience 

and lots of artistic flair! 

There are postcards of the works for 

sale, shell books and shells suitable 

for shell art. The museum is open 

from 12 noon to 5pm daily, Thursday 

to Sunday, Easter to the end of 

September. Admission is Adults 

₤2.00; concessions ₤1.50; 

accompanied children under 16 free. 

For more information see the society’s website www.sheringham-preservation.org.uk


Assiminea grayana Fleming,1828 

Found on the West coast of England 

by Dave Charlton and Carl Ruscoe 

We had gone out to check the canal near the back of Fiddlers ferry power station, a few miles up the 

river Mersey from the Runcorn bridge; with very little being found we were about to leave and I said to 

Carl, “should we walk over just to check the river Mersey banks, gullies and salt mashes”. “OK” he 

said and off we went. We found a few small shells that looked a bit like Hydrobia at first glance but 

the taper angle was much less sharp and these shells were a shorter and wider shape. We found our 

first few on an old driftwood log lying in the marshy ground, half way across the flats and quite a few 

right on the banks of the river Mersey at the base of a small soil cliff of about 18” – 24” high on wet to 

moist soil / mud and drifted old decaying vegetation which we think they were eating or just browsing 

on; however, they were moving on it anyway. We were quite near what looked like a sewer pipe 

outlet. There was very soft mud about 3 feet below them. When we arrived they were above the tide 

level of the River Mersey by 6-8ft but still below the very high spring tide marks which was about four 

hundred yards away over the flats. We found nothing in the small ponds or water filled gullies, and 

the vegetation over the top of the flats was very heavy, making it difficult to look for them. We have 

identified a few food plants of differing small habitats. 

We subsequently identified these snails as Assiminea grayana Fleming, 1828. Until we know more 

about the population/s we have decided to keep it quiet to protect them. 

Reading the information from other books, this little snail is locally 

abundant in salt marshes and estuaries at or just above high tide level 

either in brackish pools or more frequently out of water, (it is more a 

terrestrial than an aquatic mollusc) on wet to moist mud. As far as we 

are aware, this species has never been reported from this side of the 

Country, only from the east coast, from the Humber down to the south 

east coast of Kent. It was discovered in the Shannon estuary in Ireland 

in 1991. 

Diagnostic features: 

A small shell, rich reddish brown in young or clean specimens going to 

dark bluish grey-blackish looking in what I think are the older 

specimens. Size of about 4 - 5mm high and 3mm broad, like a squat 

cone, nearly strait sided in profile with only a slight suture, shell is 

semitransparent and thin but quite a solid shell, aperture rather small, 

40-45%, body whorl about ¾ of the height. Cephalic tentacles form 

short rounded lobes, each has a large eye at the tip, 6-7 whorls, body 

grey to white, the foot has some dark marks down head. We only 

collected about 8 live specimens although we did however see a lot 

more. I have kept them alive in a small box to study them for a few 

weeks. 

Assiminea grayana Fleming, 1828 

(image courtesy of 

www.conchology.be) 

The area where these shells were collected had all the usual vegetation but surprisingly seemed to 

be totally devoid of other molluscan fauna and after a long day’s collecting, dredging in freshwater 

habitats, it would have been very easy to retreat back to the car. Making that bit of extra effort with a 

walk down to the river bank paid dividends as we came up with a new species for both of our 

collections and possibly discovered a new population of Assiminea grayana which might not have 

been seen before by shell enthusiasts. It also showed that you can never rule out an area for finding 

molluscs, and as Dave quoted “Shells are where you find them”. After a good long look around the 

area over 2 years we have now found they are very widespread and in very large numbers in a few 

places on both sides of the River Mersey and over a range of about seven miles in length.


NATURE’S MIRACLES OF DESIGN 

by Brian Hammond 

An exhibition of seashells held at Montrose Museum, Angus, September 28 th 2006 to January 8 th 2007 

In July 2006 I was asked by a local Natural History Society to give a 

short talk on seashells at their October meeting that was held in the local 

museum. This I agreed to do little knowing at the time what this 

innocuous request was to finally turn into. A few days later I received a 

letter confirming the talk booking but also saying that the museum had 

enquired if it would be possible to have a small exhibition in conjunction 

with the talk. On visiting the museum to discuss this I was informed that 

8 cabinets were available to me, therefore it was not to be a small 

exhibition but a rather large one. 

With only about 8 weeks to go this was a daunting task. I started by 

Montrose Museum 

working out a rough layout for the exhibition and some sort of costing 

predictions. It soon became obvious that if this event were to be successful some sponsorship would be 

required. I am therefore indebted to the British Shell Collectors’ Club and to GlaxoSmithKline Plc whose kind 

sponsorship made this event possible. 

The exhibition opened on Saturday 29 th October 2006 and was originally planned to finish on the 15 th 

November, however it was so popular with the public that the museum requested that it be extended to January 

8 th 2007. 

The 8 cabinets consisted of 4 large upright glass fronted display cases and 4 long, flat topped glass cases. The 

flat ones were easy to layout a display in but the upright ones were more of a challenge, particularly as there 

were a limited number of glass shelves available. The final display took over 2 weeks to complete, 4½ days of 

which was actually filling the cabinets, the rest was in creating labels, photographs, shell stories, posters and 

handouts. I am indebted to other conchologists for the loan of some shells and poison darts from Conus . In 

particular Barbara Shepherd, Jonathan Welsh and Rev. Peter Youngson. 

1. Shell classes, fossils, sinistral/dextral shells 2. Cameos, Paua shell, Nautilus and 

and interesting rarities 

shell giants 

3. Cones 4. British Shells


5. Limpets, Terebras, and Spindles 6. Cowries, Cowry relatives, Harps and Stars 

7. Pearls, Mother of Pearl, Bivalves 8. Carrier Shells, Lambis, Murex, Strombus, 

and the story of Shell Oil 

Volutes and Balers 

A few entries in the comments book 

The exhibition was a great 

success and the comments 

received from the public were 

wonderful and varied. A 

number of local school parties 

visited the exhibition and it 

was very rewarding to be able 

to introduce the children to the 

fascinating world of 

Conchology. The BSCC have 

to date received a number of 

new members as a result of 

the exhibition which is another 

positive result. 

I very much enjoyed the 

experience and can only thank 

the museum and my sponsors 

for allowing me the chance to 

display some of the wonders 

of the Shell world.


ABOUT ERRONEA SUCCINCTA, A SYNONYM OF E. ONYX 

by E.L. Heiman* 

Cypraea succincta Linnaeus, 1758 was first described in the 10 th edition of “Systema naturae” together with 

Cypraea onyx Linnaeus 1758, a well known cowry species with beautiful brightly colored shells. Later another 

onyx-like species were described: Cypraea adusta Lamarck, 1810 and Cypraea nymphae Jay, 1850, but the 

famous conchological authors of the past – L.A. Reeve, the Sowerbys, J.C. Melvill, J.G. Hidalgo – treated them 

and C. succincta as forms (synonyms) of C. onyx. 

Dodge (1953:87), who analyzed Linnaeus’ types, wrote: “C. succincta is not a good species, being merely the 

young of onyx. The identity of succincta is, moreover, proved by an examination of the type in the Queens’s 

collection in Sweden, as the shell described in the “Museum Ulricae” is manifestly the same as that of the 

“Systema.” It is an individual of onyx in the so-called Bulla stage, showing the pale brown background, the two 

white bands encircling it, the juvenile teeth appearing only at the base of the columellar lip, and the marked 

expansion of the aperture at that point. Hanley (1855, p. 189) had already reached this conclusion. The 

conchological writers up to Hanley’s day were either ignorant of the identity of succincta or, if they expressed an 

opinion, they were not in agreement.” 

Sowerby (1870) pictured three variety of Cypraea onyx (Linnaeus, 1758) – C. onyx, C. adusta Lamarck, 

C. nymphae Duclos – and wrote: “For some time I have tried to establish a collateral distinction, by which the 

pale fawn variety of onyx might be separated from the two normal conditions. The slopes of the back towards 

the ends appeared to be more gradual, the ends thicker, and the umbilicus less distinct; but an examination of 

intermediate forms in Miss Saul’s collection, subsequently convinced me that the three varieties must remain 

united under one specific name. I have described the dark brown shell as the type, because probably the 

normal condition.” 

1. Shells of C. onyx pictured in a work by Sowerby (1870) 

First row: C. onyx (left) and C. succincta (right) 

Second row: C. adusta and C. nymphae (in the middle) 

C. onyx, distributed from the African coasts in the Indian Ocean to the Philippines, Japan and Melanesia, was 

traditionally treated as a valid species with forms ‘adusta’ and ‘nymphae.’ When studying intraspecific variation 

in Cypraeidae the Schilders (1938) first described in the Prodrome six subspecies of onyx in the genus Erronea: 

E. onyx onyx the nominotypical subspecies from North Malaysia to Japan, N. Australia, S. Java and Singapore. 

E. onyx melanesiae Schilder & Schilder, 1937 from New Britain. 

E. onyx nymphae (Jay, 1850) from Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. This taxon is discussed in Report-2).


E. onyx succincta (Linnaeus, 1758) from S. India to Bombay and Mergui Archipelago. 

E. onyx persica Schilder & Schilder, 1938 from the Persian Gulf to Karachi. 

E. onyx adusta (Lamarck, 1810) from S.E. Africa: Zanzibar to Mozambique, Seychelles and Cargados Carajos. 

It should be remembered that from a conchological point of view, species is a group of mollusc populations the 

shells of which can be separated from all other mollusc populations by at least one well-recognizable 

substantial diagnostic character (the main diagnostic shell character – MDSC) showing no intermediates even 

in extreme specimens. 

Subspecies are groups of geographically separated populations of the species the majority – 70% or more – of 

shells of which differs by at least one diagnostic shell characteristic from other groups of populations of the 

same species. 

Not all cowry students know that the Schilders, in order not to increase number of cowry names, often recycled 

old names that had been introduced by earlier authors and happened to be available at that moment. These 

reintroduced names refer only to the subject on hand with no connection to the taxa that originally bore these 

names. The Schilders merely wanted to revive vacant names (names that originally were applicable but due to 

lack of usage or other infringements of ICZN rules were no longer applicable to any existing population) instead 

of going through the process of creating new names. 

This well meaning tactic has, on several occasions, complicated what should have been straightforward 

diagnostic exercises and lead to confusion because it has caused cowry students to suppose erroneously, that 

the type specimens and original descriptions referring to those old taxa also applied to the newly named cowry 

populations. The names E. onyx adusta, E. onyx nymphae, and E. onyx succincta are recycled names. Dodge 

(1953) mentioned regarding the latter name: “The name succincta, which was based upon the immature shell, 

is given without much reason to the race from the Indian Peninsula.” 

In Schilder & Schilder (1971) E. onyx succincta and E. onyx persica are listed as synonyms of E. onyx. 

Raybaudi (1989a) suggested splitting the onyx-like populations into four species: two species from the Pacific 

Ocean – E. onyx L. and E. melanesiae Schilder & Schilder, 1937, and two species from the Indian Ocean: E. 

nymphae Jay, 1850 and E. succincta Linnaeus, 1758. Raybaudi (1989b) listed three of these four taxa as 

monotypic species and separated two subspecies of E. succincta: E. succincta succincta from Central Indian 

Ocean and E. succincta adusta from African coasts, Lemuria and the Persian Gulf (persica was treated as a 

form of succincta adusta). Although Raybaudi did not provide the scientific evidence confirming his idea Lorenz 

& Hubert (1993) adopted it and since then the name E. succincta is often used in a taxonomic practice as a valid 

specific name. 

Intraspecific variation in E. onyx is studied using 129 shells and reported in Heiman (2006). This study confirms 

that several groups of onyx-like populations exist in which the shell shape, profile, dentition, aperture, and 

fossula are practically identical but the shell color differs. Sub-mature shells of E. onyx have brown base and 

dorsum and there are light transverse bands on the dorsum; in mature shells the base is almost black and the 

dorsum is almost entirely covered by two broad white longitudinal bands; the pattern of sub-mature shell can 

often be seen in an area near the dorsal sulcus. 

The study confirms also that three subspecies of E. onyx can be diagnosed conchologically: the nominotypical 

E. onyx onyx, the western E. onyx adusta, and the eastern E. onyx melanesiae. There is no distinct border 

between the subspecies, they are connected by intermediate zones with mixed shell characteristics; these 

zones are treated as E. onyx in a broad sense (sensu lato) as shown in Fig. 2. 

2. An approximate range of distribution of E. onyx 

The main diagnostic shell characteristics of the subspecies are given below.


Diagnosing subspecies 

characteristics – 

main diagnostic shell characteristics (MDSC) 

taxon↓ dorsum base and margins interstices of teeth 

E. onyx onyx 

brown with two white 

broad longitudinal bands 

dark brown to black 

dark brown to black 

E. onyx adusta 

tinged light to dark brown 

without white bands 

brown 

brown to dark brown 

E. onyx melanesiae 

tinged light to dark brown 

without white bands 



It is interesting to mention that the shells of the two peripheral subspecies separated geographically by the vast 

area of the Indian Ocean – E. onyx adusta and E. onyx melanesiae – are almost identical and they are 

practically not separable without knowing the exact locality, their base and dorsum are tinged light to dark 

brown. It is possible that in the future, when more conchological information is available, they will be united in 

one subspecies. 

Shells in intermediate zones connecting all subspecies of E. onyx have sometimes mixed characters: in the 

same area entirely brown shells can be found together with shells having whitish transverse dorsal bands or 

whitish longitudinal dorsal bands of different width. There are reports in the literature regarding finding of 

several entirely brown shells in Southern Thailand and these shells were for some time treated as E. onyx 

melanesiae. Until now, there is no conchological evidence confirming the existence of another species in the 

onyx-group, separated from E. onyx by a conchological gap without intermediates. A conclusion can be drawn 

that Erronea succincta must remain a synonym of Erronea onyx. 

The taxonomic history of E. nymphae is discussed in Heiman (2006). This taxon is perhaps a mutant and can 

be treated as a form until more information confirms the existence of its living population is known. The five 

nymphae-like shells mentioned in Sowerby (1870) are still preserved in Mss Saul’s collection, now in the 

Zoological Museum of the Cambridge University. 

Literature 

Dodge, H. 1953. A historical review of the mollusks of Linnaeus. Part 2. The class Cephalopoda and the genera 

Conus and Cypraea of the class Gastropoda. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 103(1). New 

York. 134 pp. 

Heiman, E.L. 2006. Intraspecific variation in living cowries. Part 2. An electronic book on a CD. 

Lorenz F. & Hubert, A. 1993. A Guide to worldwide Cowries. 571 pp. Christa Hemmen Verlag, Wiesbaden, 

Germany. 

Raybaudi, L.M. 1989a. Cypraeidae:genus Erronea-subgenus Adusta. For a revision of the onyx group. TC 21:2- 

3.1989b. Cypraeidae (Subgenus Adusta Jousseaume, 1884). TC 21:4-10. 

Schilder F.A. & Schilder, M. 1938. Prodrome of a monograph on living Cypraeidae. Proceedings of the 

Malacological Society of London 23:119-231. 

Schilder M. & Schilder F.A., 1971. A catalogue of living and fossil cowries. Institut Royal des sciences naturelles 

de Belgique. 246 pp. 

Sowerby, G. B. I. 1870. Thesaurus Conchilyorum Vol. 4. 

* e-mail address of the author: heimel@netvision.net.il

VOL.37 NO.1 APRIL 2007 - British Shell Collectors' Club

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