Dear Rich, Emilio, Flavio and Conchl'ers,
 
In the paper by Bill Emerson, published in the Nautilus Vol. 98 (2) April
27, 1984, he explains that several authors considered the name C. kintoki
as proposed in 1970 by Habe & Kosuge to be a nomen nudeum.
 
As a result of this circulated belief, Coomans & Moolenbeek, studied the
shell.  They noted that in the Habe & Kosuge paper it stated that the
description should appear in the Japanese Journal of malacology "Venus",
however, it was never published.  Consequently, they named the shell
"kintoki" again in 1982.
 
The contribution made by Emerson was to explain that "Pacific Shell News"
which carried the 1970 description was published in both Japanese and
English.  He went to the trouble of having the Japanese text translated
into English and sending all of the relevent published material to Dr. R.
V. Melville, Secretary of the International Commission of Zoological
Nomenclature for an opinion on whether or not the description met the
criteria for availability of the name.  Dr. Melville concluded that the
name was available.  This is only a brief synopsis of the Nautilus
article, which I recommend you read completely if you are still
interested in the subject.
 
By the way, the cone is named after "Sakata's Kintoki", which is a
mythological Japanese baby warrior with a yellowish pink complexion!
 
In the description of Coomans & Moolenbeek, they note in the synonomy the
name Conus kintoki Azumai & Toki, 1974, In Pringent, 1981: 18.  This
reference of Prigent [they say] is incorrect.  According to Mr. Toki (in
litt.) he and Azuma did not use this binomen in 1974 or later.
Presumably, Mr. Eisenburg either used the Pringent reference, or more
likely, had the shell sent to him by a dealer who used this name.
 
Emilio gives a good account of the differences between C. berdulinus and
C. kintoki.  I, too, have shells of both species and belive them to be
distinct species.  If you really want a confusing picture(s) though, look
in the Compendium of Seashells (page 253 in my copy).  C. coelinae, C.
spiceri, C. berdulinus, C. kintoki and C. kashiwajimensis are sort of
scrambled together.  All are considered C. coelinae without much
explanation.
 
In my opinion, Roeckel is very good in sorting out this group of shells
in the Manual of Living Conidae.  Right on, Rich.
 
Bill Fenzan
Norfolk, Virginia
 
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