I examined all the shell books in Japanese at my hand, including quite old
ones, but none of them matched the description given by Linda Bush. Most
illustrated Japanese shell books contain at least some English (usually
titles). It is strange to me that books with scientific names did not have
any English, as those published specifically for Japanese users would likely
to omit scientific names.

Many of the scientific names given by Japanese authors (notably Habe, Kosuge
and Okutani) in Japanese publications are different from those in similar
books such as Abbott and Dance, because the Japanese authors use many
subgeneric names as generic, for example the genus Conus is subdivided into
numerous generic names. This practice may be confusing for overseas users of
Japanese books and also troublesome for anyone who try to search for
scientific information on each species described under different scientific
names.

If it is important to find out the details of the book in question, please
indicate some more details such as the size (format), number of pages, and
any other notable features of the book.

Masashi Yamaguchi, professor
Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Ryukyus
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Personal web site, http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~big/coral/

-----Original Message-----
From:   Linda Bush [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Wednesday, January 19, 2000 4:44 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        What book do I have?

I have a Japanese shell book, with not a word of English in it except the
family, genus, and speciess names.  On the cover are three color forms of
what seems to be Cymatium rubeculum.  Does anyone know the author and the
year of publication of this book?  (I bought it second-hand.)  Thanks,
Linda