The Atoll of Funafuti, Ellice group : its zoology, botany, ethnology and general structure based on collections made by Charles Hedley of the Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W.
Conus literatus, Linne
Conus literatus, Linne.
Tryon, loc. cit., p. 10, pl. ii., figs. 17 - 19; Garrett, Journ. Conch., i., 1878, pp. 354, 360.
I purchased a specimen of this from a native at Nukulailai.
page 477H. Cuming collected a form of this at Tahiti and Anaa, Paumotus.* Garrett found it in Fiji, the Gilberts, the Carolines, and Society Islands. In an excellent "Catalogue of the Cones of New-Caledonia," by Crosse and Marie, † this is recorded from the mainland, Ile Art, and the Loyalty Group. In this Museum it is also represented from British New Guinea, Erromanga (New Hebrides), and the Bampton Reef (Coral Sea). Throughout the Pacific, this shell, is greatly esteemed as material for native ornaments.
* * Reeve—Conch. Icon., L., Conus, 1843, pl. xxxii., sp. 178.
† † Crosse & Marie—Journ. de Conch., 1874, p. 344.