Paul, I think you may be right. Wilson himself on page 28 under damicornis
says that figs 3a and b may not be the same species.

I have only one immature off-white damicornis from NSW. It has an open
siphonal canal and appears to be the more uncommon species.

Although Wilson does not list axicornis, I think it is found throughout the
Indo-Pacifc. Cernohorsky Vol 1 Fig 154 says South Africa to Japan and
Queensland. "Eastern Arabia" fig 453 is a good picture. They mention that
the siphonal canal is nearly closed. I have five with such a near-closed
canal; two from Queensland, and three from the Philippines. However, two of
the five, both from the Philippines, appear quite different from the other
three: the width of the spines is greater than the height, and one of those
has bifurcated spines

I hope someone with more definite information joins the discussion

At 03:05 PM 9/10/00 -0400, you wrote:
>To folks who own Australian Marine Shells by Barry Wilson, and who are
>knowledgeable in Muricidae:  Please take a look at Volume 2, Pages
>234-235.  The shell illustrated in the upper right corner (figure 3A and
>3B) is listed as Chicoreus damicornis.  Now skip down to figure 5.  This
>is also listed as Chicoreus damicornis.  I think it is quite apparent
>they are not the same species.  The shell in figure 3 looks to me like
>Chicoreus axicornis.  However, I wasn't aware that C. axicornis occurred
>in Australia.  Wilson's description of C. damicornis (page 28) states
>(correctly, I believe) that in C. damicornis the major spines are
>"branched at their ends and open ventrally".  Neither characteristic is
>evident in the figure 3 specimen.  SO . . .
>
>Is the shell in figure 3 Chicoreus axicornis?
>Is the shell in figure 5 Chicoreus damicornis?
>Does Chicoreus axicornis occur in Australia?
>
>Thanks.
>Paul M.

John Wolff
2640 Breezewood Dr.
Lancaster, PA 17601
717-569-6955