Thanks for the clarification.  This makes an interesting thread even more
interesting.
 
Lynn Scheu wrote:
 
> >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!
> [log in to unmask]
> Louisville, KY