Butterfield Shells Identified

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ZOOLOGY OPINION: [The necklace shells] "are definitely not maireeners ... they are mostly a combination of the mud creeper Batillariidae Batillariella estuarina, which are plentiful on mudflats and have been used by the Tasmanian Aboriginal women in necklaces. They appear to be this species by the narrow length, obvious sutures between whorls, and the fact that many seem to have broken sides on their whorls, which is a common occurrence in this species when one finds them dead on the mudflats, though this could have happened while stringing or handling over time. The species used to be called Eubittium lawleyianum and was placed in the Cerithiidae family. More or less alternate specimens in the necklace seem to be wider and have less obvious sutures. They may be Rissoidae Rissoina variegata or, more likely, juvenile Cerithiidae Cacozeliana granaria. I would be able to be more certain if I could see their apertures, but this is not the case.

There is no probably no way of knowing if this necklace was made by A. Butterfield or one of the Aboriginal women. One thing that makes me wonder if it is the former is because the contemporary makers only use live shells, and women 100 years ago possibly would not have used damaged specimens either. Of course, wear and tear since may have caused the broken whorls. There seems to be less damage with the wider species which would be consistent with C. granaria as this species has a thicker shell than B. estuarina."

L Turner – TMAG