>Very interesting cowrie thread that Ross started, but for the benefit us
newbies
>(or maybe just me)- what is rostration?
 
 
Sorry, Nora, and anyone else to whom I was speaking a foreign language.
 
That was all stuff that was rather specialized to cowry collectors, and I
had so many questions (as you saw) and observations, that I thoughtlessly
failed to provide explanations for others. It was my first real opportunity
to talk to anyone else about this aspect of collecting cowries, and I had
thought about them for a long time. Excuse!
 
Rostration is an elongation of the cowry. Cowries, though glorious in gloss
and pattern,  in general tend to be fattish round lumps. They do vary in
shape: some are sort of cylindrical or even almost tubular (think Cypraea
testudinaria or Cypraea isabella) or hump-backed and shortish for their
height, like the Australian Cypraea decipiens, or big and roundish like
Cypraea tigris, and so on. But some cowries have those little terminals or
ends pulled out to an extreme length. Think Cypraea hesitata from
Queensland, or childreni from Hawaii and elsewhere. Their posterior and
anterior canals are elongated, stretched or extended. That is rostration.
Rostration comes from the latin word "rostrum" for beak and in biology it
refers to a beaklike or snoutlike part.
 
And in those "magical" waters of Prony Bay around Noumea, New Caledonia,
cowrie species which are not normally rostrate can become so by a lot of
shelly buildup on the terminals. The "Napolean's Hats" to which I referred
are extremely rostrate Cypraea stolida, with the length of the beaks
combined being longer even  than the length of the shell itself.  They turn
up on the ends also. One wonders how the animals even got their heads out
far enough to look around. No wonder they don't seem to breed!
 
Does this help?
 
Lynn Scheu, who's just heard of some more interesting stuff about
melanistic cowries that'll be at the convention! Come one, come all, to
Louisville in June!
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Louisville, KY