lune, 1960Page 2 HAWAnAN SHELL NEWS

~a«t ait4Ie S Ieett 1te«t4.

Official Publication of theHawaiian Malacological Society

2777 K.lakaua Avenue, Honolulu 15, Hawaii, U.S.A.

OFFICERS

Pre.idenl .CLIFTON S. WEAVER

"ice Pre.idenl JAMES W. ANDRUS

Trea.urer MRS. GERTRUDE ANDRUS

A..i.l. Trea.urer DONALD von GELDERN

Recording Secrelary ,MRS. HAROLD M. BAKER

Cor. Secrelary MRS. ELIZABETH HARRISON

PUBLICATION COMMITTEE

Karl If'. Greene Olive SchaenbergSpencer W. Tinker

and Officer. a. li.ted above.

Issued monthly and mailed to all regular mem-bers. Annual membership (Jan. to Dec.) $4.00.By airmail, wherever U. S. postage applies,$6.00. Immediate members of a regular mem-ber's family may join for $1.00 but are not en-titled to the Hawaiian Shell News.

Items of interest to shell collectors are solic-ited for publication in the Shell News. Dead-line 20th of month preceeding publication.

address him, Care of Wells Fargo & COm-pany, San Francisco, "and that'll get tome." He was in constant correspondencewith scientists, not only in the UnitedStates, but England, France and the WestIndies.. He was always in the market forbooks and kept himself broke buying themfrom many sources.

One of the most vexing questions con-cerns his education. That he was welleducated seems unquestioned, but the ex-tent of his knowledge is hard to determine.During most of his life in Hawaii he waspaid as the official surveyor, but you don'thave to have an engineering degree to run atransit. A fine pair of saddle bags waslisted in the personal estate, but the saddlebags would work into a land shell collect-ing expedition as well as a surveying tour.In fact they might be combined.

What was the extent of Pease's linguis-tic ability? Even if he could not speakthem, how many languages could he read?Books from the Pease library have beenidentified that were printed in French,German and Russian. All his descriptionsin the Proceedings of the Zoological Societyof London, and later in the American Jour-nal of Conchology were in Latin as theyshould be. He could evidently read Latinfor as we showed in our April issue, page4, third col. he called a Latin description"quite indefinite." We may do the man aninjustice when we refer to this but to thewriter a doubt is cast on Pease's abilityto write a description in Latin by a quota-tion from a letter to Andrew Garrett.(April issue, Page 4, center of middle col-umn) Dated Dec. 20, 1858, Pease wrote,"The mail arrived yesterday and I receiveda few books, including Conrad's descriptionof our shells." Does that mean that PeaseMdGarrett sent their descriptions inEnglish to Conrad, who turned it intoLatin and returned it to them to be for-warded to Philadelphia for publication?If a book on the life of T. A. Conrad hasever been published, this question mightbe settled by reference to it.

Also there is the possibility that Pease'sobsession, his burning desire to acquireevery book published relating to his hobbyexceeded his ability to read, say Russian,for instance.

On the other hand were it possible toread over a list of the students graduating,even may be undergraduates, in easterncolleges and universities of the eighteenforties, one might find a W. H. Peasemajoring in languages.

We are not trying to add to or diminishthe stature of W. H. Pease. We just wantto know.

******We didn't think Alison Kay was embark-

ing on much of a vacation, when she saidher trip to London (She left June 2) thissummer was to continue her studies on theCypraeidae. Now we are told that in addi-tion she intended to check Ed. Bryan'sProvisional Check List of Hawaiian Gas-tropods, against the collections of Hawaiianshells in the British Museum. Somepeopledon't know how to enjoy themselves. Or dothey?

In the interest of accuracy, in our Mis-cellaneous Items in our April issue, page7, we referred to Proto Dr. A. H. Schilder,which is wrong. The initials should be F.A. (Continued on page 3)

When we started to find out som'ethingabout William Harper Pea s e we weremoved by curiosity probably more than forany other reason, for up to that time allthat was known was that he was the authorof certain shells and lived in Honolulu ahundred years ago. With this issue thethird story of our investigations is printedand while certain facts have been and willbe established in future installments, moreand more mysteries develop.

He died at the age of 47, and his obit-uary states that he was born in Brooklynand came to Honolulu in 1849, and thatsentence contains all the information thatis known, up to the present time, aboutthe first 25 years of his life. The 22 yearshe spent in Hawaii can be pretty well docu-mented from various sources but it is onlyby inference that one can get any insightinto his life on the mainland.

One of the first questions is, Why didhe come to Honolulu in 1849? He boardedship at San Francisco. Gold had been dis-covered at Sutter's creek the year beforeand only a few miles away. The gold rushof '49 was at its height. Why should ayoung man, with the world before him andhis way to make, turn his back on Califor-nia and the U.S.A., and cast his lot withthe Hawaiian Kingdom? You can go to workon that, we haven't the slightest idea onthe subject.

He never returned to the mainland, yethe wasn't hiding from anybody. His stand-ing instructions to Andr~w Garrett were to

HONAUNAUc. M. Burgess, M.D.

I am sure it was no accident that oldHawaiians chose as their sanctuary one ofthe most beautiful and bountiful spots onHawaii or any other Island. The adjacentsoil though scant is fertile and has abun-dant fresh water streams. Towering palmsfurnish luxurious shade. The air is eter-nally warm, the sparkling water is full offish, the sea is calm and clear. Honaunauis a true paradise.

The fleeting glimpses of the barrenlava inundated shoreline where Honaunauis situated seen during the tortuous descentfrom the tiny coffee village of CaptainCook, gave no hint of the beauty that wasto burst into view when the sea was finallyreached. Black solemn lava laced withturquoise and emerald harmonize perfectlywith a bronze figure poised and tense onsubmerged lava. His net is ready. Beforehim lay a shallow tide pool and beyond abay of deepest blue. No surf.

As we turn left to walk towards thesquare mass of the ancient City of Refugeitself something slows our pace, and weinstinctively listen. It seems as if withjust a bit more ability to perceive wewould be able to see or hear the Presencethat could be felt unmistakably near. Ihope that this scene as I first saw it inAugust, 1940 will never change. It hadnot when last visited in May, 1959. Inbetween these dates is stored a sheaf ofmemories of dozens of return trips to thisenchanted spot.

I can't say that I ever found many oreven rare shells at Honaunau but therewere several firsts. It was here that~ distans, Cypraea moneta, CypraeaY.ranulata, Cypraea poraria and ~atirusnodus were first collected back in 1940.HOwever, to simply collect shells is neverthe entire objective for pursuit of a hobbythat has for one of its greatest rewardsthe thrill of exploration of such beautifulplaces as this.

You can collect as you like here. Thedepth of water in the bay slopes from sixfeet to a void of pale blue. Tracking forhuge Terebra maculata is still possible.There is abundant coral to be fragmentedby the aqualung addict in all depths. HereTom Richert found the only two knownliving specimens of Colubraria streptataken in Hawaiian waters at 35 feet undera coral block.

A huge, shallow, warm, protected tidepool beyond the ancient heiau of the City ofRefuge nourishes abundant sea life and anoccasional Cypraea moneta. As you gofurther towards the lip of the bay at theleft, box collecting, though rugged, is stillpossible. Here, clinging to the lava arethe finest Latirus nodus I have ever col-lected. Still further:- around to the leftwhere tiny spikes of sea invade the lavaflow, are J;..Q!!!!§. distans of such perfection

(Continued on page 3)

SHELL LOG (Continued from page 2)that the naturally tufted periostracum wasthought, when first seen, to cover a spinycone. At lowest tide, just opposite thebeach such a huge spring enters the baythat fresh water will rise six or eightinches above the normal level like a broadflattened fountain. A drink of fresh coldwater is both possible and pleasant whenswimming there. Cypraea ~ are notuncommon near shore and under hugeporites coral heads on the right flank to-wards the Keei battle field. The bay itselfis a fairyland of fish swimming in coloredplatoons up and down a huge subterraneanbasalt canyon created by Madame Pele in aviolent mood one dark day in the distantpast.

Here is a place that should be seen byeveryone fortunate enough to set foot inthese Islands. Just as the walled refugeheld and protected until death the physicalbeing of the ancient Hawaiian so will yourmemory retain the picture of this spotforever. Go there. You will return homericher and loving Hawaii more for havingdone so.

WITH THE EDITORS(Continued from page 2)

In our April issue, after mentioningthe fact that Dr. Jeanne Schwengel ofScarsdale, New York had presented theBishop Museum with a valuable collectionof Florida shells, we aorta wondered outloud, so to speak, what had happened tothe Hawaiian collection owned by Mrs.Schwengel, to which the late Ted Drangahad made some worth-while contributions.The question was answered promptly andfrom an unexpected source. Under date ofMay 9th, Alan Solem, the shell man at theChicago Natural History Museum, wrotethat "last year, Mrs. Schwengel presentedthe majority of Ted Dranga's Hawaiiancollection to our Museum. One of yourquestions is thus answered." Mr. Solemalso stated that he had just returned froman extensive collecting trip in the WesternStates and had brought back about 10,000specimens of land shells. One reason whywe were interested in Ted Dranga's collec-tion is based on our efforts to obtainHawaiian cone shells for the Children'sMuseum. Ted and Mr. Thaanum collectedtogether for years and, later, when Tedwas still collecting and Mr. Thaanum wasnot, Ted always divided with Mr. Thaanum.One day looking over Mr. Thaanum's col-lection, and mentioning that we needed a~ cy lindraceus and the yellow (notorange) type of ~ pennaceus, Mr.Thaanum suggested we write to Ted whowas then in Miami, Fla. Replying to ourletter Ted said that for a long time he hadretained his Hawaiian collection intact, butfinally yielding to the entreaties of JeanneSchwengel he had let her have his ~cylindraceus and some of his other choicespecimens. So that was the reason wewere interested in what became of TedDranga's Hawaiian collection, for you cancount on the fingers of one hand all thecollections locally that have a live takenspecimen of ~ cylindraceus. After hehad broken up his collection, Ted was verygenerous with the Children's Museum. A-

PEASE'S LIBRARY--SOME F ACTS--SOME THEORIES (Cant. from page 1)impossible to "rehabilitate" them. Nothingin the investigation even suggested anysystematic looting of Pease's books, asDr. Cooke seemed to suggest in our quota-tion from his discussion of the subject(April Issue) and it is believed therewas none.

From this point on, in this installmentwill be given some of the items, all moreor less pertinent, that were uncovered inpursuit of some hint as to the fate ofPease's library.

Pease died on June 29th, 1871, and inthe issue dated Sept. 1st, 1871, The Friendprinted the following:

"BOOKS AND SHELLS:--We learn froma reliable source that those having incharge the estate of the late William H.Pease, Esq., have decided to send thevaluable collection of shells to Boston.This will afford a rare opportunity for somecollege or university to obtain the nucleusfor a cabinet, or a most valuable additionto one already commenced. Mr. Peasespent some 20 years in making this col-lection, and we know that it contains manyrare and valuable specimens. The librarycontains about 1500 volumes and mostsincerely do we hope the Government willsecure the same. We have often hadocca-sion to consult this library, and knowthat it contains books that cannot be re-placed by money if they are scattered.The library is very rich in works uponPolynesian history and science. On noaccount should it be allowed to leave theisland. We regret that the funds of OahuCollege will not allow the purchase ofboth the books and the shells. How muchwe need a Peabody, Vasser, Williston,Cornell, Packer or some other large-hearted and full-pursed gentleman, to aidin the building up of our young college.The shells when they arrive in Bostonwill be placed in the hands of J. B. Marshall,Esq."

The Pacific Commercial Advertiser,immediately following Pease's death hadprinted an editorial squib advocating thepurchase of Pease's library (April issuepage 4). Perhaps swayed by these twoappeals from the newspapers, the HawaiianKingdom early in 1872, bought the libraryfor $1400, as has been previously printedin these articles.

At that time there was no public libraryin Honolulu, and it is not known whathappened to the books for the next threeyears. However in 1873, the Hawaiiangovernment started to build a home for

mong his gifts were three yellow spotted.Q.Q!!!!§ pennaceus taken alive one Novembernight in 1936 in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu and aperfect albino .QQ!!!!§ pennaceus taken alivethe same night and in the same locality.Later he sent a~ conoidalis, also fromKaneohe Bay, which he claimed was thelargest ever found in Hawaii. It measures108 mm in length. Still later, following acollecting trip to the Pacific shore of Cos-ta Rica, he sent what he claimed was thefirst and only specimen of ~ ebraeusever found on the continent of America.This is probably not true now, althoughHanna & Strong 1949, limit this speciesto Clipperton island and the Gallapagos.

its various activities. It was finished in1874, and was called Aliiolani Hale, orGovernment House if you referred to itin English. The Pease library and collec-tion of curios and artifacs, other thanshells, were moved into a room in thisnew building. Then there is a hiatus often years, until 1884, when the HawaiianGovernment recognized the fact that ithad a good library and a small museumin Aliiolani Hale and appointed Mrs. EmmaMetcalf Beckley as librarian. More abouther later.

The Honolulu Library andReadingRoomAssociation (now the Honolulu PublicLibrary) was organized in March, 1879,and formally incorporated in June of thatyear. It became immediately popular, sub-scribed for a number of newspapers andperiodicals and was rather liberally sup-ported, but still apparently didn't knowanything about the Government Libraryuntil Emma Metcalf Beckley was appointed.

Born Emma Metcalf, of Boston-bornparents, she is characterized in a recenthistory of Punahou as the brightest womanwho ever attended that school. She marriedFred G. Beckley, apparently rather prom-inent in Hawaiian politics, for he wasappointed Governor of Kauai, where hedied in office in 1881. Returning to Hono-lulu, Mrs. Beckley was appointed librarianas stated above.

An Oakland, California publisher namedMcKenney, issued a Hawaiian Directoryand Handbook of the Kingdom of Hawaiifor 1884. Evidently newly appointed Mrs.Emma Beckley was on the job when Mc-Kenney's solicitor called on her, for onpage 79, under the heading "GovernmentNational Library" here's what McKenney'shandbook says: "This institution was notrecognized by the Government until 1882,although for a long time it had possesseda valuable collection of books and curios.Mrs. Emma Beckley was appointed curatorand librarian when the government tookpossession. A very fine collection of nativeand South Sea curios are now on exhibitionat the Museum. Also patents, picturesetc. A splendid library in connection withthe museum possesses the books of everyauthor of repute and in every known lan-guage." The book was issued in May, 1884.McKenney refers to the building where themuseum and library were housed asAliiolani Hale or Government House. Mrs.Beckley later married Moses Nakuina,so we looked him up in this 1884 directoryand found him listed as an employe ofGovernment House.

Just when the Government House libraryand the Honolulu Library and Reading RoomAssociation became aware of each other'sexistence is not known but it happenedbefore 1892. It was during this periodthat the bookplate reading "Honolulu Li-brary and Reading Room Association" cameinto being. Apparently there was consid-erable cooperation between the two li-braries, and Mrs. Beckley seems to haveshared her books (Pease's Books) withthe Honolulu Library resulting in a consid-erable number of them being marked withthe bookplate just mentioned.

Now just to keep our chronology straightwe will remind you that Charles R. Bishopauthorized the founding of the BishopMuseum in 1889, and they started with

(Continued on page 4)

THE IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT LOCALITY DATA PEASE'S LIBRARY--SOME FACTS--by Ray Summers SOME THEORIES (Cant. from page 3)

a small library. Then with culture break-(it is collected alive in this locality but ing out allover, the Hawaiian Historicalrarely), Amuay ",Bay, Paraguana Peninsula, Society, with 21 charter members, wasVenezuela. Mus is collected on the beaches organized on January 11,1892 and Honoluluof the north -coast of Zapara Island, in the had four libraries.state of Zulia, Venezuela; Goajira Penin- Within three months after it had beensula. Venezuela; Medellin, Colombia (rare); founded, the Hawaiian Historical SocietyTurbo, in Antioquia, Gulf of Darien. Mr. now generally referred to as the MissionCate states these are all authenticated sta- Historical Library, started accumulating.tions. by collectors living today. Icertain- It made a farreaching agreement with thely agree in the elimination of West Africa Honolulu Library and Reading Room As-and the Mediterranean as habitats. sociation whereby the last named was to

The above examples of confusion should transfer to the Mission Historical Librarybe sufficient incentive for collectors to "all printed and manuscript matter in itsplace great importance on correct locality possession, relating in whole or in part,data. A specimen without reliable locality to Polynesia and the Pacific Ocean in gen-data has very little scientific value. I eral, and to the Hawaiian Islands in partic-prefer, if possible, to obtain specimens ular." And that's how some of Pease'sfrom the person who collected the shell. library came into the possession of theI find that locality data in old private and Mission Historical Society -- from Emmapublic collections are often unreliable. Beckley's Government Library to the Read-The more collections a specimen has been ing Room Association to the Mission His-in, the more chances of locality, if absent, torical Library, and in at least one casebeing added. a few books even went to the Bishop Museum,

This article does not mean that a col- for one of the Mission Library's annuallector should dispose of rare species be- reports says "received two Koa tablescause he does not have locality data for from the Bishop Museum in exchange forthem, but it does urge that it is important books."not to add a locality -if none came with the Both the Bishop Museum and the Ha-specimen. The less rare species without waiian Historical Society issued annuallocality data should be replaced, as soon reports and there was always a sectionas possible, with specimens with reliable devoted to the institution's library in eachlocality data. A specimen that is removed one. Usually they were general in charac-for this reason should have "locality un- ter and did not give a great deal of detailedknown" written on the data slip regardless information. However in the Historicalof whether retained for some reason, given Society's report for 1904 (12 years afterto someone, or exchanged with a collector its founding) appears this paragraph: "Nowho is not interested in having locality data r,eally new books have been added to theand is only interested in the beauty of lIbrary, but the following.!!:2.m ~shells. presented 1?Y...~ Government Library have

been accessoried and catalogued."Martyn, Thomas, Universal Conchol-

ogist, pub. 1799.""Martyn, Thomas, Figures of Non-

SHELL NEWS FROM OKINAWA des?,riPt ~hells from the S?uth Seas,"Colovm, Capt. Voyage m H. I. M.

Exploring Ship, 2 vols, Kamchatka (inThere have been attempts at forming Russian)" .shell clubs on Okinawa several times in "Seemann, Berthold, Flora Vitiensis,the past f~w years, but due to the constant a Description of the lants of V't'turnover m personnel, none of them has Fiji" p I I or

survived. This time, they believe they can These books be th bo kplk 't' ' t B ' lb ' now ar e 0 ateeep I gOIng, wri es ernlce A ert In her of the Hawaiian Historical S ' ty L 'blatest letter. She writes. "The Armed . , ocle I rary,Services has built a small ~useum--com- on the InsIde of the front cover, but it isplete with a good variety of exhibits and pasted over and totally hides an olderof course, a display of shells fro~ th~ bookplate. Ho~ever at intervals throughRyukus is included We have also started th,e books varIOUS pages are stampted

a Shell Club with th~ ideaof-bw' ldi th w~th a rubber stamp "Hawaiian Government

ng up e LIbrary "museum's shell collection with all available .

data. As soon as we get a little better The above are the only books e~minedestablished, you will be getting more shell that came from the Government LIbrary,news from here. With this museum as an but there were evidently others, for theincentive I do believe we will be able to annual reports, both before and after thekeep this club going. There are so many 1904 repprt quoted above contain theseskin-diving clubs here we hope to inspire sentences: "A number of other books,them to look for shell~ as well as fish" which were on hand, and of sufficient. value for preservation, have been added

Then she presents her own problem: (Continued on page 8)She says a skin-diver have her a beautifulSpondylus, taken in 100 feet of water, whichshe has been unable to identify. It is teninches from the tip through to the hingeand seven and one fourth inches across."Closed it is 3-1/2 inches thick and atthe hinge it is thicker. Inside it is purewhite with a half inch band of purple shad-ing to white around the edge of the lip on -

I cannot resist the opportunity to alertcollectors, who have recently taken up thehobby of shell collecting, to the importanceof having correct locality or none. Iflocality data is unknown, do not look in ashell book or at the locality on some otherspecimen and add it to the data slip orenter it in your catalogue. Many speciesrange over a very large area, and only ifa species is endemic to a small area, forexample, Erosaria ravitrona caputdraconisto Easter Island is it ethical to add alocality to a specimen which has none inthe available data that came with thespecimen. I realize that the vast majorityof collectors who look in a shell book suchas "Webb's Handbook for Shell Collectors",or at a locality indicated in data for an-other specimen of the same species andadd a locality have no intent of being dis-honest. They have been told of the im-portance of having a locality, and they donot stop to think that the specimen con-cerned may have been collected a thousandor more miles from the locality of theshell shown in the book. If you have aspecimen that you know was collected inthe South Pacific, it is permissible to put"South Pacific" on the data slip, but toput "Tahiti" on it because a friend hasone from there, or one is pictured in abook as from that locality may CaJIse con-fusion in the Scientific Concho logical World.

In the old days seafaring men collectedshells at various places while on a tripthat took months. Upon their return wheth-er the specimens were retained for theircollection, donated to a museum, sold, orgiven to friends when asked for the localitywhere they were collected they dependedon their me m 0 r y; consequently; theysometimes made mistakes causing con-fusion as to the habitat of a species. Anexample is the indication of New Zealandas the habitat of our Hawaiian Cypraeatessellata in old conchologicalpublications.Confusion still exists as to the habitat ofSiphocypraea .!!!:oM Linneaus with manyprivate and public collections having spec-imens with locality as West Africa or theMediterranean. Miss Joyce Allan in herbook "Cowry Shells of World Seas" pub-lished in 1956 indicated the type localityas Mediterranean. Dr. F. A. Schilder andDr. M. Schilder in their Prodrome pub-lished in 1938 and 1939, on page 174 indi-cate the habitat as Venezuela: Curacao toCaracas and Cartagena, and in the sectionindicating distribution by provinces, thelocality indicated is East-American Prov-ince, Central Caribbean Region, Colon toGulf of Paria, Curacao 270/260 C. Theymention instances of reported occurencesin the Caribbean Region North and East,but state this needs confirmation, as it isnot probable, though by no means impossi-ble.

Mr. Crawford N. Cate of the Los An-geles Shell Club, completed in 1958 astudy of the localities from which ~cypraea m.!!§ had been reported. By directcontact by mail, he eliminated the locali-ties of West Africa and the Mediterraneanand gave the coastal waters of Colombiaand Venezuela as a definite range withspecific localities as Maracaibo, Venezuela

both valves. It is a beautiful shell."If from this description any of you

Spondylus experts have any ideas, writeher. Address, Mrs. E. Albert, U. S. Eng.group, B. & G., A. P. 0.331. Interisland.And a seven cent airmail stamp will do thetrick.

Harold J. Muller, 85-29 261st St., Flo-ral Park, N. Y. wants to acquire someHawaiian shells, and in exchange will senda multicolored series of Atlantic scallops.This may interest some of you Pelecypodcollectors.

Mrs. J. E. Coley, no stranger to Ha-waii, is still in the market for more shellsfrom this area. She can offer Puget Soundand Florida shells in exchange, and, wesuppose, after a brief interval will be ableto swap you some shells from the NewYork neighborhood, for at the moment sheis domiciled at 4 Washington Square Vil-lage, Apt. P-11-E, New York 12, N. Y.

Here's a new one: Joe Harner, 573South Boyle Ave., Los Angeles 33, Calif.,says he recently moved to Los Angelesfrom Missouri (who wouldn't) and says heis now assembling western shells. Pre-viously he had collected in Florida. Willsend a list of what he has to offer.

Mr. A. L. Nissen, P. O. Box 94, Innis-fail, QUeensland, Aust., writes that he is a"keen shell collector and would like toexchange shells with any of the membersof the Hawaiian Malacological Society. Mymain exchanges are of our Great BarrierReef shells, all taken alive and by myself."

It seems like a great many young menwho do a hitch in the Navy, and especiallyif their tour of duty included the Pacific,become shell collectors and carry the

Abare is a fragment, almost one half, of a fossil f£!!!!.J.~ Linnaeus, picked up by John D, Beck, in thedredgings from the Second Entrance to HonoluluHarbor. Pictured here as proof that this shell oncelit.ed in the Hau.aiian art!a, and not too long ago, asgt!ological timt! is figurt!d.

BELGIUM CLUB EXTENDS

hobby with them after they return to theirhomes on the mainland. Here's an exam-ple: He didn't know to whom to write, soVirgil Hayden, 202 West 55-1/2 St., Aus-tin 5, Texas, wrote to the Aquarium. Hesays he visited the Aquarium while inHonolulu with the Navy, and he collectsshells as a hobby. He wants the addressesof anyone who sells or exchanges shells.Mr. Tinker of the Aquarium thought men-tion in the HSN would be a good way tointroduce him to the fraternity. Virgiltook the trouble to write; we've done ourpart; so some of you with more shellsthan you know what to do with send him a"surprise" package.

Who says shell collecting is on the wayout? Not from where we sit, it isn't.Spencer W. Tinker, of the Aquarium, re-ceived the following letter: Mrs. JamesCornelius, 203 Jasmine St., Lake Jackson,Texas writes, "we have formed a newshell club for this area. As a club wewould like to trade some of our shells wehave on our Texas coast for some of thebeautiful shells you have on your Islands.If you do not do this sort of thing maybeyou would write to us and tell us of someone in your club who would. Also, sincewe are a new club, we would appreciateany help or suggestions you might have forus." Let's don't let this new club dieabornin'.

ITS ACTIVITIESDr. Paul Bartsch, a name familiar to

every shell collector, died the last weekin April, 1960 at his home in Lorton, Va.,at the age of 89 according to word receivedin Honolulu. Dr. Bartsch was born in 1871in Iowa. He received his B.S. degree fromthe state university of that state in 1896,and from the same university, his mastersdegree in 1899 and his Ph. D. in 1905.In 1907 he became associated with theSmithsonian Institution as its representa-tive on a Philippine Research expedition,and continued with the Smithsonian to theend. Although he retired several yearsago he still maintained his official addressas Care The Smithsonian Institution, Wash-ington, D. C.

He was a member of many scientificsocieties, including the American Malaco-logical Union, and the Malacological Societyof Great Britain and Ireland. He mademany contributions to science. In 1945 hewas the author of the shell section in a bookwidely circulated in the Pacific area, calledFishes and Shells of the Pacific World.He is probably best known locally as oneof the three authors (Dall, Bartsch andRehder) of an article entitled New Conesfrom the Hawaiian Islands published in1943 in the Proceedings of the BiologicalSociety of Washington, reprints of whichare in the hands of many local collectors.

Dr. Bartsch was in Honolulu for the

summer, here's two dates to remember,should you be in either neighborhood. June22-25, the Pacific Division of the AmericanMalacological Union will hold its annualconvention at Asilomar, California, on thebeautiful Monterey peninsula. The parentorganization, the American MalacologicalUnion will hold forth later in the summerat McGill University, Montreal Canada,August 9 to 12. You would probably neverregret it if you went a little bit out of yourway to attend either of these meetings.

first time in 1906, and his last trip wasin 1920 when he was a delegate to the FirstPacific Science Congress. On these tripsto Honolulu, he met among others Mr. D.Thaanum, and the two became fast friends.In fact this friendship was responsible forthe Thaanum bivalve collection beingshipped to Washington D. C., where it wasstudied and became the principal basis,along with Dr. Bartsch's personal collec-tion, for the well known Bulletin 153 of theBishop Museum, manual of the recent andfossil marine pelecypod mollusks of theHawaiian Islands, by William Healy Dall,Paul Bartsch and Harold Alfred Rehder.This bulletin is still one of the best sellersof the Museum's publications and is a"must" for the collectors of bivalves ofthis area.

That kindred souls on another continent,and in another language, may be workingalong the same lines and with the sameend in view as our local Society may notsurprise you, but we believe it will makeinteresting reading. We have received aform letter (you may have received onealso,) from Mr. P. Beyst, 15, avo del'Ermitage, Rhode St. Genese, Belgium,the General Secretary, of "Foundation Con-chyiologique de Belgique". Briefly, theletter (which is in English) states that theirorganization has about 100 members, mostof whom are collectors. The main purposeis to stimulate the taste for Conchologyamong young people and help beginners aswell as its own members. Internationalexchanges of shells are solicited and "wewould be pleased to receive your proposi-tion." An exhibition is held in Belgium,(he doesn't say where) from April toSeptember, "at which we shall have theopportunity to contact many of our neigh-bors in Europe." Their organization wouldbe delighted to establish regular contactsin this area for the exchange of shell in-formation. Best way we know is to jointhe Hawaiian Malacological Society, andget the Shell News monthly. In a postscriptMr. Beyst says "We publish every montha Bulletin in the French and Dutch lan-guages. We do hope to publish it next yearin the English language also."

June, 1960 HAWAllAN SHELL NEWS Page 7

GOLDEN COWRY REGISTER STARTS SECOND HUNDRED

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Andrus, atHaleiwa Bay a couple of Sundays ago hada Terebra field day. Their prize find, a2-1/2 inch Terebra Thaanumi Pilsbry. Itwas a perfect specimen and the largest wehave ever seen. It is one of the rarerspecies. Also collected, a medium sizedL chlorata and several of the smallerspecies.

Dr. C. M. Burgess is rejoicing in thepossession of what he believes to be arecord breaking Cypraea ventriculus, re-ceived from Huahine in the Society Islandsin an exchange of shells. Get our yourcalipers. It measured 57 mm. long, 42.6wide and 31.3 high. This species has neverbeen taken in the Hawaiian area.

Here's a bit of malacological informa-tion for you. Reggie Gage went shellingrecently off Keehi Lagoon and the Hickamneighborhood, and collected among othershells 15 Cypraea moneta. Nothing re-markable about that now-a-days, but 15years ago, there weren't 15 monetas foundin a year. Just the reverse is true ofCypraea semiplota. Once the most commoncowry in the islands, now a live one israrely found. One is thriving in spite ofthe shell collectors, and the other is on thewayout.

Speaking of Reggie Gage, he is a studentat the University of Hawaii, when he isn'tshell collecting. Perhaps to advertise hishobby, he mounted a unique display in theUniversity library. He placed seve{l of thelatest shell books on a table opened ap-parently at random, but seeing to it that alarge and showy shell was illustrated. Thenhe placed a specimen of the shell illus-trated right beside the picture.

We heard in a roundabout way the otherday, and the information came on a postcard, (They must be busy down there atPerth, Australia) that Tom Richert andCliff Weaver, cut out dredging for oneafternoon and used their aqualungs and got11 Cypraea ~.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Christensen ofKohala, Hawaii, reporting finding a live3/4 inch cone, which they have been unableto identify. It's cream colored, coveredwith dark brown small dots, overlaid withwhite rectangular white blotches. The ani-mal was red. We suggested sending itover to the next meeting of the Shell Club.They also report a 1-1/2 inch juvenile~ leopardus, which it also a rarity.

G. Tourres, Uturoa, Raiatea, SocietyIslands, commenting on a story in the HSNabout finding a specimen of Strombus tri-dentatus in the Hawaiian Islands, a rueoccurance, writes of his e xp e r i e n c e ."Shelling on a small islet off the northcoast of Raiatea, I picked up a live. speci-men of S. tridentatus, in two feet of water,on a sand bottom entirely covered withreddish coral stones, which had beenwashed towards the shore by a recent cy-clone. I called my wife and in less than anhour we collected 54 beautiful, perfect livespecimens. The collecting area was only

shells have labels bearing the necessaryinformation."

The reason we print this item is to showour readers how many shell clubs thereare in the world, especially when the nameof the club is brought out in a newsworthyway. Dr. William Pang, who sponsoredthe Shark Hunt film at our April Meetinghas a old friend in St. Louis, who was illrecently, His name is E. Flynn Ford,living at 1533 Topping Road, St. Louis 31,Mo. Dr. Pang sent Mr. Ford the ten lastissues of the Hawaiian Shell News, whichproduced the following letter: "On theshelf in front of me I can presently countthirty-odd various and sundry shell books,booklets and pamphlets. However few ofthem have been able to help me while awaythe many enforced hours during my visitto the hospital the way the Hawaiian ShellNews has done. I shall be deeply andeverlastingly indebted to Dr. Pang for send-ing them to me. For your information,strange as it might possibly sound to you,I am one of the thirty odd members of the"Greater St. Louis Shell Club." Most ofus make periodic trips to various parts ofFlorida, the Gulf and rarely to the WestCoast."

Peter L. Cresswell, 28 Bidwell St.,Wellington S 1, New Zealand writes: "Iam writing to you in quest of the name andaddress of some one in Hawaii who wouldbe interested in exchanging shells fromNew Zealand. I have been collecting forabout eight years on and off and haveamassed some hundreds of species, allfrom our coasts. I am very keen to widenthe scope of territory to include speciesfrom the northern Pacific. All my speci-mens are preserved in their natural state,and the collection has, I hope , somescienti-fic value, giving species peculiar to each ofthe faunal regions of the Dominion and sub-divided in turn to the local conditions andenvironments. In doing so I am able tobuild up a collection showing the effectsof tides and currents on the molluscanfauna. However, as I have said my present.f..g; ;.. tn "nntact snmp nnp ;n H"w,,;;

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Then here's another one you don't hearmuch about. The Boston Shell Club cele-brated its 50th anniversary recently, ac-cording to a letter from A. Gordon Melvin,of West Newton, Mass., who enclosed aclipping from the Boston Sunday Herald,which devoted over a quarter page to theevent. The Boston Club meets from Octo-ber to May in the Museum of ComparativeZoology at Harvard University where W.H.Pease's shell collection is housed, butwe'llbet not many of them know that fact. Butwhy should they, when the Harvardcollection is said to contain 10 millionshells, and is the second largest in theUnited States.

about 100 feet long and ten feet wide. Wedid not find a single specimen beyond theselimits or on any other island."

The Golden Cowry Register maintained by the Children's Museum of Honolulu startedon its second hundred this past month and Nos. 101-2-3 were enrolled. The GoldenCowry owners who have taken this protective measure, and the measurements of theirshells follow:

GCF L W H Locality Owner297598 95. 59.8 50.6 Guam Carl Helweg, 501 So. 14, New Hyde

Park, New York59.2 50.5 Fiji W. A. McCarty, 3 Fenton Court,

Alexandria, Va.63.0 52.25 Fiji R.J.L. Wagner, 1122 Westbury Rd.,

Jenkintown, Pa.For the benefit of the uninitiated, it may be said that the GFC stands for Golden

Cowry Factor, and is the identifying number of your shell. It is the product of the length,width and height in millimeters. Up to this writing with 103 shells registered, there hasbeen no duplication, hence the claim that this is an infallible method of identifying yourshell should it be lost or stolen. However accuracy is stressed, and the measurementsshould be made on a precision instrument, i. e. a millimeter calipers with vernier. Ifsuch measurements are not available to you, and, if you want this service, and will paythe postage and insurance both ways, your shell will be measured and registered without"""rge. Send with complete details to Karl W. Greene, Box 3751, Honolulu II, Hawaii.

Most of the shells registered come from Fiji. Concerning Carl Helweg's shell fromGuam, he gives the following information: It was found dead in 65 feet of water off thesouthwestern tip of Guam in the Mariannas and not far from the spot where Herb Wardfound the upper half of a juvenile Golden Cowry some months ago. They're still lookingfn.. a live one in this particular neighborhood.

Bob Wagner says his shell was originally included in the C. Pennock collection, a"PYOV nlrl nnp f..nTn F;ii, dating back into the 19th century.

2666..,2 89.2

307778 93.5

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Want A New Zealand Contact?He didn't know where else to write so

he asked the Bishop Museum to help himout, and they did. They sent the letter tothe Shell News.

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Tom C. Marshall, "Myba- Yamba", 36Lewis street, Eagle Junction, Brisbane N.18., Queensland, Aust., who is the govern-ment ichthyologist at Brisbane, but who isinterested in conchology as a hobby. Wantsthe addresses of persons who may issuecatalogues or lists of shells which theymay have for sale, or the names of anypersons with whom exchanges could bemade in shells. Having had 30 years ofMuseum experience, he says he is "wellaware of the value of data, and all my

many of the books known to have comefrom the Pease Library.

Then, the following year, in 1892 theHawaiian Historical Society was organizedand, as was fitting, the emphasis wasplaced- on its library. Under the agreement,referred to above, the Honolulu Libraryand Reading Room Association transferredall its Hawaiian, as well as Polynesianbooks to the newly formed library of theHistorical Society, bookplates and all.

Just how auspicious the first year of thenew library actually was may be judgedfrom its first annual report (1893) whichsays: "According to Prof. Alexander it(the library) has the largest single collec-tion in the world of books and pamphletson Hawaii." Later the report lists theHawaiian Section as containing "679 books,1058 pamphlets and 117 bound volumes ofnewspapers." There is no breakdown ofthese figures but it is known to contain anunspecified number purchased from VernonL. Tenney of Brooklyn for $365; all thebooks due under the agreement (see above)with the Honolulu Library and ReadingRoom Association, and certain minor in-dividual donations which were listed in thereport. The year was not without its mis-fortunes however, for this same reportsays that continuous and heavy rains inDecember, 1892, and a leaky roof "didhundred of dollars worth of damage to ourbooks.."

From reading these early annual re-ports one gets a very definite impressionthat there was an unwritten agreement, atleast an understanding among the librariansespecially of the Bishop Museum and theHistorical Society, concerning the books inthe Government Library, whereby the Bish-op Museum was to get the scientific booksand the His to r i c a I Society practicallyeverything else, especially all historicalpublications. Duplicates they shared, as isproven by the fact that when the HistoricalSociety in 1892 purchased the Vernon L.Tenney collection, duplicates in the Govern-ment Library were given to the BishopMuseum.

Dated Dec. 26, 1896, the Historical So-ciety issued a printed list of the books inits library as of that date. Almost twohours was spent one day checking thetitles in this printed list against the bookslisted in Pease's Catalogue (HSN May),as printed in The Friend of May 1st, 1862.At least 90% of the titles were the same,although 34 years had elapsed between theprinting of the two lists. There is noproof that Pease owned all the books helisted in his 1862 Catalogue, but he evi-dently owned most of them from the fami-liarity he showed with their contents in thediscussions which followed each entry inthe Catalogue. Also many books have beenrebound as needed, to preserve them, andfrequently the identity of the original owneris thus lost. Some books and many of thepamphlets and unbound material were un-questionably lost for va r i 0 u s reasonsthrough the years as the various reportsof the librarians have indicated. Of thosestill preserved, probably the majority ofthem are in the library of the HawaiianHistorical Society and the remainder in thelibrary of the Bishop Museum. In bothcases they are treasured possessions, andas such are taken care of more than ade-quately--K. W. G.

PEASE'S LIBRARY--SOME FACTS--SOME THEORIES (Cant. from page 4)

to the library." From another report:"Two books were purchased and some oldones which were on hand, seemed desirableenough to be added to the library." Aslate as 1908 they were apparently addingold books, although there is no hint asto the source, for the annual report reads:"The library now contains 1294 books ofwhich 327 had not previously been ac-cessoried." The librarian liked that word"accessoried" and used it frequently.

Another detail that might be mentionedhere is the fact that the librarian's reportusually gave the number of books whichhad been rebound (and there were many)and, not infrequently, listed the number thathad been prepared for rebinding duringthe coming year. Rebound books carrythe bookplate of the Historical SocietyLibrary, and in the ones inspected, showno other bookplate.

It is not intended to give the idea thatthe bulk of Pease's library ultimatelyfound it's way into the Historical Society'slibrary, although they undoubtedly havea great many.

This circumstance came up during theinvestigation. The Historical Society is-sued a catalogue of the books in its libraryas of Dec. 26th, 1896. In glancing throughthis, there was listed the Captain CharlesWilkes Exploring Expeditions of 1838-42.which we recalled seeing in the Peasecollection now in the Bishop Museum.Upon request the kind and very cooperativelibrarian at the Historical Library producedthe book, maps and all. Looking insidethe front cover we saw a bookplate whichread as follows "Vernon L. Tenney, Brook-lyn, Hawaiian collection and mattersrelating thereto." Then our attentio~ wascalled to the first annual report of theSociety (1893) where the president in hisannual report proudly stated that the fledgingSociety had made a wonderful start onits library by purchasing the Vernon L.Tenney, Brooklyn New York, collection for$365. There was no record in the reportof the number of volumes or their titles,but we found another with the Tenney book-plate in it, when we asked to see the"Races of Man," by Pickering which Peasehad listed in his 1862 catalogue.

Unfortunately Mrs. Emma Metcalf Beck-ley left no record of her administrationor distribution of the Government Library,but numerous references confirm that shewas librarian and also in charge of thecollection of curios and artifacs, from1884 to an undetermined date which couldbe no later that 1911 for on that dateAliiolani Hale was vacated to be renovatedand fireproofed and became the Judiciarybuilding as we know it today. There isconsiderable evidence that the "collection"as it was called, and possibly the scientificbooks (especially shells) went to the BishopMuseum as early as 1891 according tothe annual reports of the Director of theBishop Museum.

Dr. W. T. Brigham was in charge ofthe Bishop Museum from its inception in1889 for more than 25years. Hepublishedregularly annual reports in which progressin every department, including the library,was duly chronicled. With the 1915 report,Dr. Brigham had completed 25 years at

the helm, so this report covers 25 years

instead of just one. It's quite extensive,

but if you want to read a good history

of the Bishop Museum, up to that date,

read his report.One pertinent paragraph follows:

"When I first heard of Mr. Bishop'sproposed museum, I had suggested theincorporation of this Government collection,

but at that time there was considerable

opposition on the part of the Government

rather than on Mr. Bishop's part, when

a chance remark of the Attorney General

that he needed more room and that the

visitors to the museum disturbed his depart-

ment, gave me the hint. I urged himto use his great influence to secure the

transfer of the collection to the new Kalihi

(Bishop Museum) building, and thus put

at the disposal of the law department this

much needed adjoining room. I was suc-cessful and was superintending the packing

of the specimens for removal,.when Captain

Mist, secretary of the Foreign Office, came

hurriedlyjn and told me that the 'Charleston'

was-signaling with her flag at half mast,

and, as Kalakaua was returning on her,

it was probable that he was dead. I at

once went out and got all the help I could,

engaged all the express carts to bring me

packing cases, and before the end of that

eventful day the whole collection was dumped

on the floor of the new museum. A change

in government might keep the (government)

museum in the old place for the present

and I would take no chance."

This date is easily fixed. King Kala-

kaua died in the Palace Hotel in San

Francisco, Jan. 20, 1891, and the cruiser

Charleston with the dead king on board,

pulled into Honolulu harbor, Jan. 29th.

How effectively Dr. Brigham did his

work can be judged from a little squib in

The Friend, three months later. Under

date of May I, 1891 it printed a brief

item. Notice the last line:

"The Bishop Museum--A stolen glanceinto the building the other day revealed

an interior of much rich and elaboratecabinet work, glass cases and carved wood-

work. Many important objects were in

place. Great quantities of curios were

awaiting arrangement."There is nothing in Dr. Brigham's

report for 1915 which would indicate that

any books from the Government Librarywere in this hurried move in 1891 above

referred to. Nor has any information on

this subject been located from any other

source.This is the situation as it existed in

1891. Emma Metcalf Beckley had beenlib r a ria n of the Government Library(Pease's books) for seven years (since1884). She and her books and curios werehoused in Aliiolani Hale which also washeadquarters for many other governmentactivities. If the Attorney General waspressed for room Mrs. Beckley wouldprobably be one of the first to hear about

it. The Honolulu Library and ReadingRoom Association (organized 1879) wasactive, and well patronized. What wouldbe more natural than that Mrs. Beckleyshould give, transfer, loan, whatevermeth-od she might have used, some of herbooks to the only active library in Honolulu.

That would account for the many book-plates of the Honolulu Library and Reading

Room Association found in the front of