A Diagnostic Manual of Cowry Species, Subspecies & Forms
by E.L. Heiman , editied by J.M. Inchaustegui II
2012, self-published, cardboard covers with metal double ring spiral binding, 192 pages, about 8 by 11˝ inches (about 20 by 29.5 cm), with 31 full size color plates and hundreds of color photos throughout the text
Those of you you are already familiar with Ed Heiman's earlier work "Diagnosing Cowry Species" will find this new work to be a larger and greatly expanded edition of this work. Heiman takes a very interesting approach to the subject of cowrie speciation and he bases his species on a set of pre-determined conchological characteristics that he deems measurable or observable , and uses these as criteria to determine what constitutes a species, a subspecies or a form. If you agree or disagree with his conclusions I think that everyone interested in the Cypraea will want to have this book in their libraries. The summary of this book is a conclusion that there are 18 main cowrie "forms" (types) which include 189 species of Cypraea in the recent fauna as well as 83 subspecies. The book is illustrated with over 1100 color photos of shells. While this look at these shells is certainly not from a mainstream perspective it certainly deserves to be aware of this some what radical view of looking at these shells.
