Richard's opening comment sparked an idea that may show a way to resolve the
issue concerning the Ojibwa C. moneta.

These animals' shells grow very quickly, contain LOTS of carbon and, from
observations I made on another littoral cowry (C. caputserpentis, see
http://cowrys.org/archive/NSN375CY.HTM#A ), they very likely stop growing after
a year or two.

The point here is that carbon dating the shells in question would give a clue as
to how old they are. Has that been done yet? Surely a piece of one these shells
can be employed for such an important bit of data.


Aloha,

Bob Dayle

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