Notes on a damaged shell of Cypraea carneola L

All molluscs are able to repair their shells in case of not too serious damage. Damaged shells are particularly well known among species which are exposed to hazards such as an arboreal existence (tree snails, Achatinidae), life on rocky coasts with a heavy swell, etc. Repaired shells of Cypraeidae are usually quite common and testify to the tenacity of the species in this group (cf. e.g., SCHILDER, 1930). Recently the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, received a fresh adult, heavily damaged but beautifully repaired, shell of Cypraea carneola L. (pl. 2 figs. 1, 2) that had been found by Mr. N. J. BLEEKER in 1964 at Pennington on the Natal South Coast. The specimen must have suffered considerable damage, probably due to a rockfall or kindred mishap. It is quite distorted, mainly on the dorsum. Two vertical lines with some pits indicate the area where a long and fairly narrow strip of the shell has been broken and subsequently had to be replaced (text-fig. 1, zone 2 is the repaired area). All this has resulted in a peculiar pattern on the dorsum; zone 1 is normal, the repaired zone 2 is much more intensely patterned than the others, while zone 3 is even paler than zone 1 and appears to show a repaired minor crack which separates it from zone 4, which once more is quite normal. It is likely that zone 3 is part of the original shell, while zone 2 is a replacement as shown by its particularly marked pattern; the latter zone is 9 mm wide. The colour bands in the pattern have not shifted as frequently happens in damaged shells; this shows that the surface of the mantle underneath has not been damaged too seriously. The whole shape, pattern and sculpture of the shell have thus become noticeably abnormal.