Dick...Have you run across Cuming labels for west coast species? Many of the
shells from Neah Bay, WA (1859-1866),  presented by J. G. Swan to the
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. were sent to England. In
accordance with an agreement, the first available duplicates were forwarded
to the British Museum or to Mr. Cuming's collection (Carpenter,1864-65).
Labels were made for the Smithsonian Institute, "Named by Hugh Cuming,Esq.
for the Smithsonian Institute, Washington,D.C.".



Rick Harbo

Nanaimo, B.C.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Petit" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 5:18 AM
Subject: Re: Cuming labels


> Guido:
>
> Many Cuming specimens have incorrect data  because he did not use labels
> and
> would not allow them in his collection.  When he prepared specimens from
> his
> collection to sell or send out for description by Reeve, Sowerby,
> Broderip,
> et al., he would dictate their localities to his secretary who would label
> them.  When the shells were returned with names, Cuming would memorize the
> names (remembering them rather well) and destroy the labels before placing
> the shells back in his collection.  The labels on Cuming specimens in the
> Natural History Museum (BMNH) were not written by Cuming.  This will be
> discussed in detail in a paper now in preparation.
>
> Regards,
>
> dick
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Guido Poppe" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 10:16 PM
> Subject: Re: Under-collected islands in the Philipines 1
>
>
>> About the marine shells:
>>
>> Well, it is well known that quantities of about 100 large species got
>> out of the country since 300 years. They are merely the ones eaten here.
>> Cuming then collected but the locality labels are doubtful, probably
>> not because he didn't care, he did, but because most probably nobody
>> told him where they found the shells. No fishermen will give away his
>> locality data. It is a challenge to know where a shell comes from,
>> before and today.
>>
>> Later a small point on the map between Malaysia and the Philippines
>> was visited by the Siboga and Semper published several hundred new
>> species from deep water from Indonesia and that area. Most live also
>> here in the Philippines.
>> Then the Challenger came along and the USA with the Albatros. There
>> was extensive professional collecting by the Albatros people, but
>> little of the material has been studied and published. Gould
>> described a number of species and Bartsch also.
>>
>> In the eighties the French Museum people became active here: there
>> was deep water dredging by Musorstom1, 2 and 3. From the material
>> I've seen, mainly Mindoro. Last year they did the Dabfar cruise in
>> the Bohol Sea and explored extensively down to about 2000 m.
>> And then there was the Panglao Marine Biodiversity project 2004. The
>> latter was concentrated on shallow water species and I think it
>> brought in about 6000 species in 6 weeks by about 40 scientists. See
>> http://www.panglao-hotspot.org/
>> So long for the professional approaches that I'm aware of. If people
>> know about other expeditions working here, I'm eager to learn.
>>
>> The shell dealers and their army of fishermen: since 1970 the tangle
>> net has been invented and later the lumun lumun net. Tangle nets are
>> not harmful for the bottom: they are merely a method of extraction
>> than fishing. Few areas have been explored: a few square kilometers
>> in the Camotes, near Mactan Island, around Panglao (which includes
>> Balicasag), Talikud and Balut Island. Virtually no nets go deeper
>> than 250 m. Most are around 80 m deep. These nets collected in
>> general 1 shell a day/net. With between 100 and 350 nets, this means
>> about this number of shells a day. The nets are on the same places
>> since 20 years and it is difficult to motivate the fishermen to move:
>> they want to stay close to their family and because shells come up at
>> the same rate as 20 years ago, they see no reason to move.
>> A second source are fish divers: they will pick up shells but their
>> activity is limited to slopes in the Camotes Sea only. They seldom go
>> deeper than 25 m, unless somebody wants a leucodon or a valentia.
>> Then they risk their lives and many never come up again. Same for
>> expensive aquarium fish which is a bigger trade than our dwarfed out
>> shells.
>>
>> This may be to long for server, I continue in next email
>>
>> Mabuhay from Mactan island, the Philippines.
>>
>> Guido T. Poppe
>>
>> Conchology, Inc.
>> Cebu Light Industrial Park,
>> Basak, Lapu-Lapu City,
>> Cebu, Philippines 6015
>>
>> Phone #: +63 32 495 9990
>> Fax #: +63 32 495 9991
>>
>> Websites: www.conchology.be
>>                   www.poppe-images.com
>>                   www.mambele.be
>>
>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>
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