I was just browsing the web, looking for images of one particular kind of cowry when I came upon a page where some people had asked for IDs on cowries that they had acquired. The page is at http://www.seashell-collector.com/identification/cypreidae.htm and the shell in question was identified as a juvenile Cypraea schilderorum. If one looks at the set of images, however, which were supplied, the basal view shows that the teeth are (already) stained brown. That is the missed clue that the cowry is actually a juvenile C. tessellata. I learned this lesson very early as the FIRST tessellata that I ever collected was just like the one shown (without the basal growth mark). It took me two weeks to find someone to ID it. That happened to be the late Ellis Cross. This was back in the early 1970s but I've never forgotten it. The similarities are hardly accidental and I carry on and on about it in my Research area of www.cowrys.org, some might say "ad nauseam." Aloha, Bob Dayle http://www.cowrys.org/research/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------