Lambis crocata, Linnaeus, 1758 – Orange Spider Conch
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SHELL OF THE MONTH – JULY 2015
Cypraea caputserpentis Linne, 1758 – Snake-Head Cowrie. This is one of the commonest yet most beautiful of the Cypraea. It also has the distinction of not varying in its pattern like many other Cowries.
Cypraea helvola Linne, 1758 – The Honey Cowrie. Another common Cowrie, but one that never fails to impress.
Cypraea moneta Linne, 1758 – The Money Cowrie. This is one of the most variable of the genus, even within one location. And, as its name implies, it has been used in many countries as a monetary unit
Cypraea annulus Linne, 1758 – The Gold- Ringer Cowrie. Although this Cypraea can vary in form the gold “ring” is a consistent feature.
Now, you may ask why we have so many Cowries this month….it’s simple. They are all self-collected and donated by our President, Sonny Ogden. In 1967 when she was stationed with her husband at the Navy Base on Kwajalein Island in the Pacific, she collected these from the lagoon in about 20 – 30 feet of water on a rubble bottom. So you see, these are “no ordinary Cowries”!
SHELL OF THE MONTH – JUNE 2015
Calpurnus verrucosus (Linnaeus, 1758) 3-5m deep in soft corals and sponges Off Olango Island, Cebu, Philippines
For the June Shell of the Month we offer a set of 12 Calpurnus verrucosus (Linnaeus, 1758). All are high quality specimen shells which may either be used for comparison study or for shell craft.
Calpurnus verrucosus is a member of the family Ovulidae. It is a large family of diverse sizes and shapes. They have in common being white, pinkish or even approaching red, having a smooth often glossy surface, and a long narrow aperture. All members come from warm tropical waters, especially the Pacific. Calpurnus
verrucosus looks like an albino Cypraea with pink tips. In fact, its common name is little egg cowry or warty cowry. The warty is due to the umbilical button near each terminal. All Ovulidae are carnivorous and live on soft corals. In contrast to the solid color shells, the animal is often quite colorful. This one is white with orange leopard spots outlined in black.
The set was donated by Richard Kent. Our thanks also to Alice Lustig for her donation to the Raffle Table at the May meeting.
SHELL OF THE MONTH – MAY 2015
Cypraea Argus
2016 SHELL SHOW ENTRY FORMS
Click on links to download full sized forms.
For additional information please see Shell Show Page.
2016 SHELL SHOW RULES
Please click on the link below to download the PDF of the 2016 Broward Shell Club Shell Show rules
APRIL SHELL ART AND CRAFT MEETING
Hi to all,
The next Shell Art and Craft Club meeting is scheduled for:
Monday, April 27th
6:00 to 9:00 PM
At the Pompano Civic Center
We have two activities planned for the evening.
1) Apple Snail Flower Arrangements- Patti Jenkins will take us through all of the steps in making these arrangements in a small apple snail. Members will go home with a finished arrangement. Check out Linda Ebeling’s apple snail arrangements she recently made in the attached photos.
SUPPLY LIST
-Hot Glue Gun and sticks
-Needle nose pliers with spring action return Your jewelry tools should include one of these. The club has a loaner pair to share at the meeting
-Tweezers
-Exacto knife
-Scissors
-Loctite or other brand superglue-Not gel
-Regular knife, straight edge, not serrated, to cut the foam
-10 -13 small shell flowers, ranging in size from about 1 to 2 inches. We suggest you make your shell flowers in advance and bring them to the meeting to save time. You can stem them at home or at the meeting. Note: If you have not yet learned to make shell flowers, there will be flowers available for purchase at the meeting.
Kits for the apple snail arrangements will be available for $3.00 each at the meeting. Kits include an apple snail, a stand, floral foam, stems for your flowers, and filler, i.e. natural plants and sea life. Please bring anything you want to include in your own arrangement.
2) Finish making a complete shell necklace. Marta Cruz will show members how to finish making a shell necklace using the focus shells they made at the last meeting.
SUPPLY LIST
– 1-3 focus shells with wire bales like the ones we made at the last meeting
– Jewelry making tools- The club has one set to share
– See attached Necklace Supply List. This is a comprehensive list of supplies needed if you want to continue making shell jewelry. Many of these supplies can be purchased at the meeting in quantities needed to complete one necklace.
IMPORTANT- NEW MAY CRAFT MEETING DATE
Please note that the May meeting date has been rescheduled to Monday, May 11th. The original meeting date, May 25th, is cancelled because the civic center is closed due to Memorial Day Holiday.
As always, we encourage you to bring your shell art and craft projects for others to see.
I look forward to seeing you on Monday night. Please call me at 954.309.7752 if you have any questions.
Linda Laurin
ORIGINAL 1835 KIENER ILLUSTRATION DONATED TO COA AUCTION
This rare and valuable original 1835 plate of two volutes from our hemisphere will be offered at the 2015 COA Convetion Auction. It is the work of Louis Charles Kiener (31 July 1799 – 24 July 1881) who was a French malacologist born in Paris.
The plate comes from his 12-volume, “Spécies général et iconographie des coquilles vivantes comprenant la collection du Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Paris, la collection Lamarck, celle du prince Masséna (appartenant maintenant a M.B. Delessert) et les découvertes récentes des voyageurs.”
In English the title would be “General species and iconography of recent shells: comprising the Massena Museum, the collection of Lamarck, the collection of the Museum of Natural History, and the recent discoveries of travelers.”
This book was and is one of the most important contributions in the field of conchology as it cataloged all the species know at that time. The 12 volumes have full descriptions of every shell in the museum’s collection along with hand drawn illustrations of each specie.
For those doing research, “Spécies général et iconographie” has been digitized and can be found on the internet.
In his memory, the following are a few species named after him:
Lophotriorchis kienerii (G. de Sparre, 1835)
Murexsul kieneri (Reeve, 1845)
Thais kieneri (Deshayes, 1844)
Cypraea kieneri (Kiener’s cowry) (Hidalgo, 1906).
The plate was donated by Richard Kent on behalf of the Broward Shell Club. This could be a once in a life time opportunity to acquire an original plate. As it illustrates two favorites of American collectors, Voluta ebraea and Voluta musica, it is of special interest.
SHELL CLUB PICNIC
The club has scheduled the picnic for Sunday, April 19th at the Jetty Pavilion in John U. Lloyd State Park in Dania Beach. The club will be supplying the meats, beverages, condiments and paper goods, and the only thing the members are asked to do is bring a favorite covered dish (something “picnic” oriented). The only cost o the members will be the $6 entrance fee to the park.
It is suggested that you arrive early to ensure a parking spot as the Jetty Pavilion has a smaller lot than the others, and it is also advisable to car-pool. We will start the grill at 11:30 so you can plan accordingly. I know the majority of us know where the park is but is you have any questions as how to get there feel to contact Richard Sedlak at 954-296-5633 / sedlaki1@comcast.net. Last call!!
TSUNAMI SHELLS ON RAFFLE TABLE!
Here is an interesting item for the shell crafters that will be included on this month’s raffle table. It is a set of 30 vexillum of about an inch and half in size. What makes this interesting is they were collected on Phuket Island in the rubble that was left behind from the devastating tsunami that struck Thailand in 2004.
Broward Shell Club 
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