Bill, I would be very interested in seeing a scan of your strange Phallium
granulatum.  Please send it to [log in to unmask] , thanks.  I have only an
opinion about your shell (a cheap one at that) but it does sound like it was
caught during a growth period -- especially if it has evidence of earlier
lips or thickened varices.  I have never seen a junvenile, so can't say if
they parade around without a lip -- but it is certainly possible.

Tom in New Mexico, USA

>Of the many specimens of  PHALIUM  granulatum
> that I have collected on the central Texas Beaches,
> one stands out.  The one I'm referring to must have
> been sick, demented or maybe just retarded.
>Why?   Well, it has no thickened outer lip!
> True, It could have been in the middle of a growth
> period when it died but that doesn't explain the
> numerous thickened outer lips that were not removed
> (dissolved)  before previous growth periods started.
>It is relatively small,  1 1/2 inches,  for its species
> but there is no doubt about it being a Scotch Bonnet.