Interesting subject!

> Why does the Cone have a perc at all?
>Why isn't it larger? Is the Cone experiencing some evolutionary change in
>which the perc is just developing or (on the other hand) disappearing?

     - more likely disappearing.
It would appear to be vestigial....  left over from 'some previous life',
as it were !
where it may have been useful for something other than protection,
 like how Strombus uses its operc for propulsion:
(some Conus opercs remind me of Strombus opercs, thus my comment.)



.
........

Regards,
David Hunt.

43,Rendezvous Ridge,
Christ Church,W8
BARBADOS,
West Indies.

Tel:    +(246)-427-0146
Fax:   +(246)-425-1521
Email: [log in to unmask]



============================================
Think of the earth as a living organism
being attacked by billions of bacteria
whose numbers double every forty years.
Either the host dies, or the virus dies,
- or both die !

 --Gore Vidal