Dear shell-lovers,

Strombus luhuanus is my most favorite gastropod (for scientific investigation). I found a note by R. T. Abbott
(Indo-Pacific Mollusca, vol.1, no.2, Strombus, p. 135-137) that "We are restricting the type locality to Luhu
Island, near Amboina and Ceram, Indonesia. This was the locality given by Rumphius on his pl. 37, fig. S
and upon which Linnaeus named the species, luhuanus".  I have been to Ambon and Seram several years
ago but unfortunately did not have a chance to visit the Luhu village, though I got a lot of specimen from a
nearby locality on Seram Island. In the translated book (by E. M. Beekman: The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet)
there is a picture of S. luhuanus in the plate mentioned by Abbott, and its description as "Luhuana, in Dutch
Luhunese Whelks, these resemble an oblong Buccinum, .........(omit)......... One will find them often on all
kinds of beaches, but nowhere as much as in the Luku region, which gave them their name, and in the same
entire bight of Kaijbobo: they are not esteemed because there are so many of them."  (a note by Beekman
pointed out that "Luku" should be "Luhu", a region on Howamohel or Little Seram, the peninsla of the large
island of Ceram that points at Ambon from the north.)  Beekman published another book: "The Poison Tree"
in 1981 (Selected writings of Rumphius on the natural history of the Indies, edited and translated by E. M.
Beekman (Univ. Massachusetts Press). It was great to find out the history on this species.

In recently published Japanese shell books, this species was described as Conomurex luchuanus. I was
wondering why such a strange name was given to my favorite species. Conomurex is a subgeneric name
and it is not a problem as Japanese authors love to change the generic names. The specific name
"luchuanus" suddenly appeared in the book by Kosuge and Habe (1967) and all the following shell books
used this misspelled name up to now. I was told that this name was based on an illusion that the species
was first described as being found in the Ryukyus. In the old days, the Ryukyu Islands was called "loo-choo"
or something like that. Thus, my detective search revealed that the authors of shell books continued to copy
previous books rather than making it sure by studying original information. This may give an excellent example
of the evolution (descent by modification) of names.

Masashi Yamaguchi