Dick,

It is nice of you to tell the story of the egg-case whistles (see the
picture in the following site).
http://www.kaikyokan.com/cgi/fish0/67.htm

It was sold at almost every summer festivals (particularly around Tokyo)
along with another
natural whistle made of a fruit of Phisalis.
http://www010.upp.so-net.ne.jp/pha/flo0309hoozuki.htm

In both cases, the contents of egg capsules and the fruits were carefully
removed
to make durable empty capsules with a small hole: these were kept inside
one's
mouth and that were pressed inside the cheeks repeatedly to make whistling
sound by the air coming and going thought the hole of the capsule.

Although they were only short-lived, these natural whistles produced nice
feelings
for kids to enjoy festivities. It is regrettable that we have lost this nice
cultural heritage.

I enjoyed the egg-capsule whistles in my childhood, a half century ago,
but they became extinct in recent decades, because the mothers of
the egg capsules became close to be extinct in Tokyo Bay and probably
in many other coastal areas in Japan. The reason for the decline of
these large gastropods (several species of whelks produced egg capsules
that could be used for the whistle) was not over-harvesting but the water
pollution. They were likely to be affected by the organotin compounds,
(for example: http://www.nies.go.jp/edc/english/Eibonisi.htm ).
I hope to get it back as these deadly chemicals are banned now.

Masashi Yamaguchi
Faculty of Science, Univ. of the Ryukyus
Okinawa Japan

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