I agree with Don, Ashish's shells are probably the dark form of Oliva
miniacea (Röding, 1798).  The only other possibility would be the dark form
of Oliva vidua (Röding, 1798) but it does not normally have the bright
orange interior.  See the excellent little book Siput Dan Kerang Indonesia
(Indonesian Shells) Vol. I by Bunjamin Dharma, 1992 .  It is not written in
English but the photography is good.  Maybe the two names should be in
synonymy.

Betty Jean, The Tall One

At 07:00 AM 1/17/00 -1100, you wrote:
>Hi Ashish,
>
>I'm no olive expert, but your two olives look like black
>specimens of Oliva miniacea (I believe the form is
>"marrati").  I have one that looks exactly like yours
>and it is identified as O. miniacea.  The color on the
>columella, aperture coloration, and overall shape are
>all quite typical of the O. miniacea that I have collected
>in the southwest Pacific, including the ones I collected
>last night.
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>
>Don
>
>----------
>From: Ashish Gupta <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Unidentified Olive
>Date: Sunday, January 16, 2000 5:44 PM
>
>I have recently purchased 2 specimens of an olive that I could not
>identify. Would be
>grateful if you could check the image at Ross Mayhew's unofficial Conch-L
>image site at
>http://www.geocities.com/conchlimages. Any suggestions on what this
>species might be is
>welcome.
>
>Regds,
>
>Ashish in India (phew! its getting hot in the South)