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Bz NOTICE: COA dues are now due o tear, please keep cur ship lapse, and we are With this issue, our rangyp anystutbdd SL tan we will try to make sev- eral introductions at once. Tha ng the case let's begin with a statement of the projected editorial policy of the Bulletin:- We feel that our most important purpose should be as a news- letter for our own organization, presenting a quarterly review of the past, present and future activities of COA. Because of the Geographical dispersion of our membership we shall introduce a system of mail balloting to cover all points to be voted on at our Annual Meeting Business Sessions, these will appear in time to be mailed back to the Secretary, who will cast those votes at the meeting. Since many of our members do not have at their fingertips large and extensive libraries, we intend to review all new books and publications in the Malacological field, and on some occasions even older ones, in order that individual members and clubs may procure those books etc. which will best serve their purposes, without depleting budgets on less useful items. We wish to present articles by all of our members, particularly, those concerned with observations, field trips, field notes, methods of curating (that's a very elegant word which really means putting things away so that they can be located in a reasonable time, and so that one will have some understanding of what one has when it's found), methods of preparing displays, and cleaning one's catch. Please don't feel shy or embarassed because you're not an Irving Wallace or a Henry Pilsbry, send your articles to the editor in your own words -- tell us all just as you would tell someone over a cup of coffee after the local shell club meeting, and we'll all enjoy it and benefit from it. We will try to present some information about shell club activit- ies around the country, especially as many of us travel about a great deal it might be that our visit to an area would coincide with a meeting of the local shell club, and it's always great fun to meet new members of the leg- ion of the "Shell Shocked", Now just a short statement about what the Bulletin is not and Should Never become. We will not publish descriptions of or advance notice of new species or other taxa, by whomever described, Veliger, Nautilus etc., are more appropriate to this. We will not reprint any material from other publications without crediting the original source and NEVER without spec- ific permission to reprint. We shall not carry any articles about shell- craft, innacurate or downright silly material because the author has not reached voting age (negative age snobbism is out of place in any publication not devoted to that particular genre) and as a special example of your edit- or's own prejudices - NO POETRY by people who do not have an understanding of meter, scansion, or the English Language as defined by the editor's own rather narrow view of it! The foregoing will tell you what to expect from future issues of this Bulletin, and, now let me introduce myself; I'm Frank Nelson, book and shell collector, interes- ted in archaeogastropoda, Volutidae, Molluscan Paleontology, good food, Anthony Trollope and his writings, Oriental Art, Linguistics, the Human Condition, and a football Nf! also self appointed guardian of the art of Poetry in the English Language. - 2-9 Send your letters and articles to me at 95-2) 110th Street, Richmond Hill, New York 11419 -- please keep the letters and articles coming in, we need them, and you must realize that this is your paper and it is the responsibility of all of us to keep it alive and growing. Keep in mind that an editor is just the Human exten- sion of his paste-pot and shears. ‘In search of the elusive Haliotis walallensis" by Robert McMillen and John Phillips Having been a commercial abalone diver for 13 years I have become extremely familiar with the habits of the various species of Haliotis living in our Southern California waters. Perhaps the rarest of our local Abalone is the Flat Abalone (Haliotis walallensis, Stearns 1899), and this species is generally collected north of Point Arguello; however,I have found a few specimens in deep-water ( 70 feet plus) | off Jalama State Park ( Between Point Concepcion and Point Arguello), Point Concepcion, and at Coho Anchorage ( just south of Point Concepcion). This abalone seems to be very shy and spends it's entire life clinging to the undersides of large, flat boulders and sometimes under ledges on rock reefs; it is extremely rare on the tops of rocks | or reefs. The Flat Abalone is a comparitively gregarious species, in that you will generally find 6 to 12 specimens living together under a good sized boulder. Its food seems to consist of dead drift kelpthat finds its way under the boulders or ledges via currents or wave action. It is definately one of the world's most beautiful Abalone, as it comes in a variety of striking colors and the external surface of the body whorl is highly imbricated, thus giving it a scaly appearance. Marine boring worms delight in attacking this species, and the larger specimens of Haliotis walallensis will almost always be eaten away in the spire area by these worms. The shell itself of Haliotis walallensis is not so sturdy as that of the other local Abalones and special care sh- ould be taken when cleaning this species, especially when you are using a strong bleach solution for the loosneing of marine encrustations. If they are left in a bleach solution for much longer than one hour the shell bevins topeel off in layers in the internal nacre; the external shell will also develop a chalky, crumbling ap- pearance and in some cases the complete shell can be crushed and ground into a dust with pressure from a closed fist. I have spent many years diving our offshore Channel Islands, and I have never collected Haliotis walallensis untill just recently ( November 1970 ) when I found it living in 50 feet of water, under large, flat boulders off Talcott Shoals, on the inside cf Santa Rosa Island; and also in 110 feet of water, under large, flat boulders, off Tyler's Bight, on the seaward side of San Miguel Island. Out of 4O spec- imens collected in both localities the largest specimen measured ) 3/8 inches in length and the majority of the shells were between 2's and 3 inches in length. The largest coastal specimen collected was taken by myself in 70-80 feet of water off Jalama State Park; it measured 5 3/l inches. Maximum size on this species is probably 6 in. In closing I would like to state that it is extremely important when collect- ing Haliotis walallensis for you the collector, to always return the boulders you have overturned back to their original position on the bottom; this insures no environ- mental change for marine life on or beneath the boulder. ( I can only say that the last paragraph should be a guide to the behavior of all of us when collecting. Ed. ) For those members who have not pitended any of ce COA tad meetings we are including in the first edition of our Bulletin The Constitution and the By-Laws of the Conchologists of America, this is done for several reasons, not the least of which is to make you aware of the aims, goals, and rules of COA, and to make it poss- ible for those of you not able to attend a meeting to vote intelligently, or to pre- ‘sent motions for the business meetings in absentia. ari Fox CONSTITJTION OF THk VONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA ARTICL&E I : NAME AND PURPOSK. the name of this organization shall be the Conchologists of America. Its purpose shall be to unite shell collectors and clubs in the United States and promote conservation and interest in shell collecting. The emphasis of this organ- ization shall be on CONCHOLOGY rather than on Malacology. ARTICLE II : MEMBERS Any person interested in Mollusca may become a member. ARTICLE III: OFFICERS. The officers of the Club shall be: President, Vice President, and Secret- ary-Treasurer. This group, plus the immediate past President, forming the Executive Committee, shall make provisions for meetings of the organization. Besides the traditional duties of the office, the Secretary -Treasurer shall submit a report at the annual meeting consisting of the yearly business and financial transactions. ARTICLE IV : ELECTION OF OFFICERS. All officers shall be elected by ballot at the annual meeting to serve for the ensuing year. At the annual meeting, the presiding officer shall appoint a Nominating committee of three members to report nominations at that meeting. Nominations ma; also be made from the floor at the time of the committee report. ARTICLE V : ANNUAL MEETING. The time and place of the Annual Meeting shall be designated each year by the incoming Executive Comnittee. ARTICLE VI : DJES. There shall be annual dues of such sum as the By-laws may from time to time provide. They hsall be payable in advance. ARTICLE VII: BY-LAWS By-laws may be proposed at the annual meeting by the executive committee, or by motion from the floor. Their adoption will be by the majority of members in attendance at the annual meeting. ARTICLE VIII: CHANGES IN THE CONSTITUTION. The constitution may be ammended at the annual meeting, by a two-thirds vote of those in attendance at the annual meeting. Spe ee BY-LAWS 1. The organization shall meet annually to receive reports of the officers for the past year, elect and install officers for the ensuing year and trans- act any other business that may arise. 2. A news letter shall be sent periodically to members covering club act- ivities, and for the exchange of thoughts, ideas and experiences in the field of Conchclog’. a. Dues shall be twe dollars unmialls. lh. A quorum shall consist of five members, the executive officers or their representatives and those members in attendance at the annual meeting. The dues article is open to annual review, at the June 1973 meeting it was voted that the dues for the year 1973-7) would be Three Dollars, dues will be payable on Jan. ist of each year. Subsequently the dues provision will be an article of business at each annual meeting. As we noted above there have been several other thoughts regarding the rules and regulations of the club that have been discussed from time to time, and part of the introduction to this first issue was devoted to that. We also acknowledge that the constitution above does not have vast amounts of Legalese language about it, not one single word of Latin, not too many words of English, and is really intended to be an organizing document open to revision as time goes on to meet the needs of a growing organization. Please let us know what your thoughts about it, have we omitted any points that you feel should have been made part of it, or did we not cover anything well enough, or too well. Keep us informed. teeHeeddHedHHeee: =TREASURER'S REPORT , April 30th 1973 ssHRRHHRHEHRRERAHEHAdHAdE RECEIPTS : Memberships Individual 1441 Clubs 5 Clubs with Membership as of April 30, 1973 are: Argonaut Trail Shell Club Conchological Section of Buffalo Museum of Science Chico Shell Club Greater St. Louis Shell Club Northern California Malacozoological Club. EXPENSES 3: Membership Cards $ 40.00 Printing 35.8h Stamps 48.00 Supplies be55 146 Z Dc eO0= D <92200 BALANCE 3 $162.61 Respectfully Submitted Dorothy Janowsky, Secretary/Treasurer ee A Report of the 1973 Convention , by our President Mr. Kirk Anders. The delightfully British Bahamas was the setting for the 1973 convention for the Conchologists of America. Although it wsa wrought with small disasters (such as the huge ocean liner we were scheduled to hold the convention on - blowing up, just small things like that). After all was said and done, we flew over to Freeport and held our conven- tion in the modern and very nice Hotel right next to the International Bazaar and the largest Casino in the Western Hemisphere. Organizational Meetings and cocktail parties were the order of the day, and everyone got to know everyone else. Parties were slipped in whenever possible, between meetings, parties at the beach, shelling, etc., etc.. Papers were presented, slide lectures entertained everyone, and we had a most successful shell Auction, to raise badly needed funds. New organizations reed time to grow and develop, and make small errors along the way, but, for being so young, EVERYONH really had a wonderful time, and the misfortunes were shoved into the b xkground, and the good predominated. I wish to thank the attending membership for voteing me President for the 1973-7) period. I'm also happy to note that the selection for our 197) convention is close to my home town of Seattle. I'm looking forward to seeing many more people at this convention, and know that it will be even more successful than last. See uoy there! SHIRE RE HHH EHH EHH HEHEHE HHA HEHEHE EEE HBB HEEEHEHEGHEHGEHHHEREE Minutes of the Second Conchologists of America Convention The second convention of the Conchologists of America, held at the Cast- aways Hotel in Freeport, Bahamas, officially opened at 10:00AM on May 12th 1973 with the start of our first business meeting, 26 members were present. In her introductory remarks our President Bette Rachlin briefly outlined the background of our organization and the details of its formation in October 1972. The idea of a nation wide organization devoted to the interests of the shell collector was conceived many years ago by John Paduano, an avid collector who resides in New- port, Rhode Island. Last year he was able to see this idea become a reality as he hosted the initial convention of COA. His regrets were conveyed that he was unable to attend this year's convention because of poor health. Mrs. Rachlin also spoke of the purpose of COA, which is to encourage the exchange of ideas and information among conchologists and to promote conservation, both in our own collecting habits and on a larger scale. The minutes of last year's meeting were read and accepted. The treasurer's report. was given and accepted with the suggestion that member shell clubs be listed. A report on the progress of the Constitutional Committee was given by Carl Erickson. He presented the draft of the Constitution and By-laws which was discussed and, with minor changes was accepted unanimously. A motion was made to increase dues in order to compensate for the higher costs of printing and postage. It was voted to raise the dues to $3.00 per year as of Jan. 1st 197, and to have all dues payable on January 1st of each year. In order that we might become better acquainted with each other, the members then individually introduced themselves to the group, giving a brief account of his or her interests and introduction to shell collecting. A nominating committee for officers for 1973-197 was called for. Volunteers =the Margaret Teskey, Arthur Merrill, and Edith Oetzell were requested to prepare a slate to be presented at the next day's meeting. Having concluded all old and new business, Mrs. Rachlin then turned the floor over to Kirk Anders who had several slide presentations and papers planned for the remainder of the meeting. To start the program Kirk showed a series of slides taken at the first COA Convention. Scenes of us shivering our way along the beach in Rhode Island brought back many pleasant memories, but also made some of us look forward even more to the warm Bahamian waters. Views of some of Newport's magnificent mans- ions were shown and there were many group shots of our founding members, all but one of whom were present at this year's convention. A fascinating paper on the Cypraeidae of South Africa was presented by Rohert Morrison. He spoke primarily of the newlynamed Cypraea cruikshanki,kilburn, and had a specimen of this rare and unusual cowrie with him for all to admire. The final presentation of the day was " Shelling in Bonaire " a slide lecture by Kirk Anders and Gary Magnotte. They took us on a whirlwind tour of this small island in the Netherlands Antilles, showing fascinating shots of the vegitation, the animal life, and the shells they collected. The meeting was officially adjourned at 12:30PM. Sunday's business meeting was opened by our President at 10:00 AM and then turned over to Kirk Anders who showed slides of a shelling tour he had conducted to Glover's Reef, British Honduras, Cymati.m parthenopium, Cassis flammea, Cyphcma gibbosum, Strombus gallus, and Conus regius were only a few of the numerous species which were collected during this adventure. The nominating committee then presented their slate of officers for the following year, which was accepted and voted upon. The new officers for 1973-197) are? President Kirk Anders Vice President Carl Erickson Secretary/Treasurer Dorothy Janowsky The shell auction, which we had sll been eagerly anticipating, climaxed the day's meeting. Donated by members and by shell dealers in this country and abroad, the shells were of excellent quality and species representing many different families were available, Cypraea tigris schilderiana, Cypraea stercoraria rattus, Voluta kaneko, and Murex foliatus were only a few of the many specimens which caused spir- ited bidding by everyone. The total "take" of the auction increased our treasury by $185.50. The meeting was adjourned at 12:30PM. FRESE EAB EEE EEE BEEBE BRB ABER EH EB EHH EBB BIB BEBE Conchologists of America 197), Convention, Seattle Washington June 13,14,15,16, 1974 June 13 93:00 to 11:00AM Registration, Edgewater Inn on the Seattle Waterfront. June 13 13:00 to 4:30PM Opening Session, Greetings, Coffee Break, Papers. June 13. Evening- Social get-together, No-host Cocktail Hour and dinner at the Edgewater. June 14, General session starts at 9:30AM with coffee breaks and lunch scheduled. 4:30 conclusion of first full day of papers. ER Pr El June 1) June 15 June 16 res Evening Cocktail Hour, Banquet, and ----- SHELL AUCTION! !$3!1)1 9:30AM to noon, Final session of papers and business meeting. Afternoon will be free for tours of Seattle etc. That everirg an optioral trip to Blake Island is scheduled aboard a cruise boat for viewing the Indian villiage there seeing Indian dances and partaking of the Indian Salmon Bake for dinner, all authentic Northwest Indians and food. Morning bus tour, cross Puget Sound by ferry to Bremerton to see the U.S.S. Missouri, and lunch at the Hearthside Restaurant. Then to Port Gamble to visit the Of Sea and Shore Museum of Shells and Marine Life, on the way back to Seattle we'll visit the North Kitsap marine Environmental Center to view live local marine life. June 17 thru 19th A collecting trip is scheduled. This will include the famous Victoria Breakwater on Vancouver Island, Padilla Bay, and other locations in Washington, and British Columbia. Tom Rice has planned the whole thing and it looks as though he's pulled out all of the stops to do it RIGHT: All of the costs have not been finalized as yet, though the rates at the Edgewater Inn are $2.00 waterside (double), $19.00 (single); cityside rates are $19.50 and $15.50. Cost of the Sunday bus trip to Port Gamble including lunch will be about $10.00 per person. Other rates and the collecting trip costs will be available soon. . For all of the details contact Thomas C. Rice at Of Sea and Shore Magazine, Port Gamble, Washington 9836). Please don't forget that this is your paper,and we need all of you to help it grow, and become the kind of paper we'd all like to really be proud of. Get your thoughts together and send papers,notes, bookreviews and anything relating to shells and shelling that you feel the rest of us would like to hear about and learn from. y | CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN 2 Time has come around again for another issue of the Bulletin to get put together, and regretfully there has not been very much material submitted. Editorial F. Nelson Pa Lee Nelson Important Edible Mollusks of the HPAte te 6( te Arthur S. Merrill & (Vy ys John W. Ropes Pot 2 The Bookshelf ie DEC 32 199 F, Nelson ae Pa Night Shelling at South Bimini Corinne E. Edwards P. 5 Helpful Hints on Collecting and oFELD AWUSELIM LIBRARY John Phillips P. 6 macronterus and Pteropurpura vokesae,. ees EDITORIAL ----- Several letters have come in asking about books, publications, etc.,and it strikes me that the list of books for sale which is included in Tom Rice's " Of Sea and Shore " magazine does a good job of keeping everyone posted about books currently on the dealers shelves which might be of interest to shell collectors, and Since he also reviews the books that he offers for sale this should be an adequate coverage of books in print at any given time. JI don't want this to sound as though I'm running an advertisement for one bookdealer to the detriment of any other one, but Tom is a member of our organization and is probably better known to more cf the membership than any other book seller that I could name. I thought that because of this, it might be of more value to our readers to make them aware of some of the other sources of publications not the normally used book stores. In the section called " The Bookshelf " which I shall try to make a regular feature is a sampling of several of the places from which books of interest can be ordered. Arthur S. Merrill and John W. Ropes have submitted the article below on Commercial Shellfisheries which I hope will be the first in a series which will serve to put into perspective for all of us the interplay between those populations which form the total ecosystem which is our planet. I had thought to write a rather longer editorial to kick-off each issue of the Bulletin, and particularly so since so little material had been submitted, but, my wife up-staged me with the following: " Today's increase in both leisure time and affluence seems to be turning an ever larger segment of our population into collectors ----- collectors of stamps, coins, books, buttons, and baubles. Just name it and, somewhere, there is a collector eagerly waiting to add it to his collection. When one considers the number and div- ersity of active collectors, one must also wonder how trash disposal ever came to be a problem. But to each collector, whatever the intrinsic value (or lack of it) of his chosen specialty, each item is a treasure. f Nearly all collectors, be they collectors of pre-Columbian artifacts or comic books, have certain traits in common, In addition to the obvious desire to have the biggest, the most valuable, or the most complete collection possible, they seem also to turn a remarkably deaf ear and a blind eye to anything not directly within their own sphere of interest. Ordinarilly this doesn't pose too serious 2 problem. A stamp collector seldom finds the need to put his collection into focus with anything more esoteric than his checkbook, or relate it to anything more elusive than the collection of "That guy down the block". He can happily pursue his hobby, limited only by the time and effort he wants to expend and the funds available to him. Likewise, nearly all collectors have certain problems in common, such as display facilities and space in which to house "the collection". But few collecting hobbies carry with them the degree of moral responsibility that shell collecting demands. All serious shell collectors have, I'm sure, at one time or another, been exposed to the Code of Ethics, Rules for Collectors, or whatever label that particular author has put on it. And I'm equally confident that all serious collectors observe these rules quite faithfully and consistantly. It is, after all, in the best inter- ests of shell collecting generally for all of us to do so. But I wonder how many dedicated collectors, who wouldn't think of collecting endangered, immature, or damaged specimens, or of leaving a collecting area in shambles, would just as faith- fully adorn their wives with leopard skin coats or alligator bags if they could » circumvent the law. Shell collectors as a group, have been very dedicated and forceful in sup- porting projects to save the wetlands, pervent beach erosion, establish seashore parks, protect endangered species and promote meaningful legislation for the preservation of intertidal zones. These areas are all related, to some degree, to our special inter- est in shell collecting. But conchology is not an isolated field, Mollusks are only one small part of a huge, inter-related biological tree that, at the moment, has far too many weak limbs. Careful observation of life in any defined area, wether it be a coral reef, a corn field, a small pond, or a jungle, will show the interdependance of both plants and animals on eachother for continued existance. The eradication of a single species, however vgly, distasteful, or preditory, can start a chain reaction that may serious- ly and irreversibly change the biological balance. Hopefully, shell collectors will find the time and inclination to view their interest in shells in relation to the total ecological picture and support rot only those areas of conservation pertaining directly to mollusks, but to support all worthwhile conservation measures. We can protect and enjoy a species that is not endangered, and we can try to revive an endangered one. But once a species is beyond reviving or totally extinct, we can only wish that we had had more foresight. Today we have a fighting chance to save the whooping crane, the peregrene falcon, and - certain of the great whales. Tomorrow it could be Strombus pugilis or Voluta musica." Lee Nelson IMOPRTANT EDIBLE MOLLUSKS OF THE JNITED STATES Arthur S. Merrill and John W. Ropes +* A serious study of malacology often begins for both the professional and amateur alike by collecting and identifying the many available mollusks «ithin a local area. An interest develops and new species become less easilly acquired, the student widens the area of search to include world-wide specimens or a more concentrated effort is made to observe the complex biology of a few species. The latter course sometimes brings the student face to face with the fact that some species have a very important value as food for man. In many countries, the number of food species are relatively few but they often attain a large size and are sufficiently abundant to warrent commercial exploitation. A variety of molluscan shellfish are utilized for food world-wide. In Table 1, we have separated the world molluscan catch into major categories and includ- ed the portion of the catch taken by countries that dominate in particular fisheries. In just two categories, Japan and the United States caught nearly half of the 3.12 % 2 million metric tons of world molluscans in 1967. Japan's catch was made up of a wide variety of molluscan shell fish; its take equalled over 75% of the world catch of squid, octopus, freshwater clams, conchs, whelks, etc. The United States ranked second in the dominance category, taking about half of the world's catch of bivalved mollusks, such as clams, oysters, and scallops. Other countries have a dominance for special species that occur near their shores. Landings are greater on the east coast of the United States than on the. west coast. This is due in large part to extensive estuaries, such as the Chesapeake Bay system, and the broad continental shelves found on the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. During 1965-69, an annual average of 113 million pounds of bivalved mollusks were the nation's harvest; over 90% of this total was taken from the east coast (Table 2) Several marine pelecypods inhabit the east coast and have been used for food since colonial days. Five species are harvested by important fisheries: the oyster (Crassostrea virginica); the surf clam (Spisula solidissima); the sea scallop (Placopecten page ee 3 the northern hard-shell clam or quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria); and the "goft-shell clam (Mya arenaria). Minor fisheries exist for: the southern hard-shell clam (Mercenaria campechiensis); the ocean quahog (Arctica islandica); the bay scallop (Argopecten irradians); the calico scallop (Argopecten gibbus); the blue mussel (Mytilus eats); the sunray clam (Macrocallista nimbosa) } and cc razor clam (Ensis directus). Gastropods, such as the queen conch (Strombus gigas); whelks (Busycon carica and £, canaliculatum); and the periwinkle (Litterina littorea), are harvested but are generally of minor and local significance. Some o e minor species of clams and snails have the potential to become commercially important in the future. On the west coast, landings of oysters are mostly of the Japanese species, Ostrea gigas 3; it is imported as seed and intensively cultured. The native Olympic oyster, Ostrea Seid 3 is of local importance, as is the eastern oyster C. virginica, which was introduced in the late 1800's. Several other species of bivalves used for food are: the razor clam (Siliqua patula); the pismo clam (Tivela stultorum); the butter clam (Saxidoms nuttalli and S. giganteus)3 the little neck clam (Prototheca staminea); the apes philippinarun); ae cockle (Clinocardium nuttalli); the horse clam Manila clam (T (Schizothaerus nuttalli); the soft-shell clam (M.arenaria)(introduced from the east coast); and others. Sport digging for edible bivalves has become an increasingly important recreation. Several of the west coast species are taken this way, as are a few on the east coast, particularly in areas catering to summer tourists. The pressure from sport ans commercial fishing of bivalves has necessitated formulating State regulations to manage the fisheries. The intent of these regulations is to insure continued future use of the bivalve stocks and to eliminate possible health hazards from eating bivalves liv- ing in contaminated coastal waters. Molluscan shellfish fisheries are unique in that each one has its own indiv- idual methods of operation. The manner in which the particular mollusk is harvested, where it is most abundant, and the facts on the biology are topics of general interest. Much is known about some of the fisheries, but much more remains to be learned to effectively manage them for maximm utilization of the valuable natural resource. ( See Page for Tables # 1 and 2) %* NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, MIDDLE ATLANTIC COASTAL FISHERIES CENTER, OXFORD, MARYLAND 2165) Editors Note: The foregoing article is the first of what I hope will become a series contributed by Messers Merrill and Ropes on Commercial Shellfisheries. Perhaps they will serve to put into perspective for us all the interplay between populations in the total platetary ecosystem. % 3 Table 1. World Molluscan Shellfish Catch --1967 Arranged According to Production with Dominant Country and Catch = (in Metric Tons BAN REBEAERE bi ay, World Dominant. Country Species Catch and Catch Squid, octopus, freshwater clams, conchs, whelks, etc 952,000 Japan 728 ,500 Oyater, clam, scallpo 1,390,000 United States 654,100 Mussel 273,000 Netherlands 85,600 Cockle, arkshell 103,000 Malaysia 53,800 Cuttlefish , 60,000 Spain 16,900 Winkle 4,000 ' Ireland 2,000 Miscellaneous 338,000 Total World Catch 3,120,000 metric tons (= 6.9 billion pounds) Asource: FAO. 1969. Yearbook of Fishery Statistics, Catches and Landings - 1968 Vol. 26, 318p. Table 2. Average Annual Landings of Five Major Molluscan Shellfish in the United States, 1965 - 69 Thousands of Pounds of Shucked Meats East Coast West Coast Oyster 48 , 106 7,890 Surf clam Lh 646 ~ Sea scallop 13,868 1,825 Hard-shell clam 12,665 3,042° 2s -shell clam 11,271 b Includes several species of clams not * separated in statistical digests THE BOOKSHELF Several letters have come in asking about books, publications, etc. It strikes me that the list of current publications which is included in Tom Rice's "Of Sea and Shore" magazine does a generally good job of keeping everyone posted as to the books in print which might be of interest to the average collector, and he also rev- jews the latest regular books that come his way. I do not wish this to sound as though i'm running a specific advertisement for one bookdealer to the detriment of another one, but, Tom is a member of our organization and is probably known to more members than any other bookseller that I might care to name. That long and rambling preamble leads to the point, I thought that it might be of some value to make mention of all of the other kinds of sources of books, reprints, separates etc. than the normally used book stores. Each issue I shall have a little more to suggest regarding various means of building up a library. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS 300 NORTH ZEEB ROAD ANN AREOR, MICHIGAN 48106 Has for sale a number of reprints of works that are very hard to find, if not downright impossible, through the normal "out-of-print" sources, for example: * h BAKER, F.C. A Naturalist in Mexico, being a visit to Cuba, northern Yucatan, and Mexico. 1895, 182 pp $ 9.10 GOODRICH, CALVIN The Mollusca of Michigan. 1932, 1h0 pp $ 7.00 KEEN, A. MYRA, and DOTY, CHARLOTTE L. An Annotated Checklist of the Gastropods of Cape Arago, Oregon. c 1942, 17 pp $ 6.00 MacGINITIE, GEORGE E. Distribution and Ecology of the Marine Invertebrates of Point Barrow, Alaska. 1955, 213 pp $10.65 VAN DER SCHALIE, HENRY The Land and Fresh-water Mollusks of Puerto Rico. 1948, 166 pp $ 8.30 The above is just a sampling of the titles available, they run, as you can see, at the rate of $0.05 per page with a minimum of $6.00 per volume. They also have a service which will provide these titles and others on their list in regular hard library bindings, for a slight extra charge. Another source of publications (these are not reprints) is: UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI PRESS DRAWER 9088, CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA 3312) Who have issued a number of specific items in a series of "Marine Science Publications" and also a quarterly "Bulletin of Marine Science", which deals primarilly with topics relating to tropical and subtropical waters. They have also begun a projected series "Fauna Caribaea", which will deal with the marine and terrestrial animals of the Caribbean area. The "Fauna Caribaea" will be a series of handbooks with illustrated keys. In the "Studies in Tropical Oceanography" they have already issued: No. 6 : AMERICAN OPISTHOBRANCH MOLLUSKS By Eveline Marcus and Ernst Marcus 1968 viii, 256 pp illus. $10.00 Future issues will bring more of this kind of report on what's available in the reprint and specialty publishing fields, and we are working also on a possible article on the Microforms field which may be the library resource of the future. NIGHT SHELLING AT SOUTH BIMINI Lt Col Corhine E. Edwards USAF On the little sand bars close by the Sunshine Inn, between rocks, dock and channel, Cynthia Plockelman once found several della dolabrata on a night shelling trip. In April, four Ft. Myers shell club members were at Bimini (me too), 2 A.M., ona dark, no-moon night, armed with flashlights, searching for that Atlantic pyram. It is listed as common in the West Indies and we find them, shiny and brownlined in the beach drift at Bimini. We saw Terebra hastata, and dislocata, Oliva reticularis and the six holed sand dollar all over the sand flats that night, no pyram. Who wants to go back to bed at 3 A.M. on a lovely warm night? Curiosity led me to have a look along the other side of the rock jetty. There I was, without a thin- bladed knife, when I discovered Chiton viridis, a variably-colored snakeskin-girdled chiton, out in force, on the wave washed rocks. However, I did not go back empty handed. The others had wanted Cittarium pica, but the great four-insh ones down in the depths in front of the I nn are old, pitted, rusty and eroded. Here good=sized and clean the * 5 West Indian top shell or magpie, was also on the move. I easily picked off more than a dozen without chipping a single black-edged pearly lip. The operculum is a fascinating bit of nature take a look at it. The next night at 2:30 A.M. we went out to those rocks for chitons. A friend of Laverne's had furnished a jar of alcohol and asked her for Acanthopleura granulata to trade with, but here was a bonanza. With someone to hold the light while I wielded the knife, we got Chiton viridis for him and some for ourselves. This chiton is ever so easy to remove from the rocks without damaging the girdle, as it is out moving at night. The valves are very white inside this mollusk, if it is disarticulated, the valves kept in order and carefully glued back together. There was more, on this second night shelling venture. Shining white in ny flashlight beam,I saw an Epitonium lamellosum. This sizeable wentletrap was out alone on a big black rock. It was actively turning and twisting its shell as if it did not like to be in bright light. I took it and the others exclamed over my find. Then my light picked out a fat greenish anemone and there was another Epitonium lamrllosum feeding on it. I could see the long thin proboscis inserted below the tentacles into the smooth fleshy side of the anemone. We all searched for more and ruefully remembered all the great blue-green anemones out at the deep end of the rock jetty. If only we dare- d to navigate the rocks and fire coral and urchins, but weak flashlights and deeper water wete too much. Do Epitonium come out at night to feed? Were there plenty out there? Who knows? There was more ----- and it was a happy group of shellers (but with cold feet) that finally crawled back to bed. from Seafari, Vol. XI. No. 6 , June 1969 the Monthly organ of The Palm Beach County Shell Club HELPF''L HINTS ON COLLECTING AND CLEANING PIEROPURPURA MACROPTERJS AND PTERO PURPURA VOKESAE. Jo lips Having been a dyed-in-the-wool Murex lover for almost 15 years, I was natur- ally very keen on discovering the whereabouts of our local goodies when I began diving commercially off Santa Barbara about seven years ago. The following helpful hints apply only to personal observations made by myself in the Santa Barbara and Point Concepcion areas. In short, you cannot always judge one by looking at the other, and my observations might prove faulty in other areas where Pteropurpura macropterus and P. vokesae are prevalent. At the time that I began diving for California Murex, P. vokesae and P. macropterus were both very rare and seldom-seen species; I can well remember the day when I actually trembled with delight at the sight of a lovely set of these shells in the personal collection of a friend. I think that I probably set my mind to wonder- ing abaut where these little dainty creatures reside on that very day, and I set out on a search which took me almost two years to complete. My search ended with that age-old conchological saying "Shells are where you find themY!". The originator of that little statement forgot to add the fact that one must first discover the natural habitat of any given species, and in my case it took two years. P. macropterus is not a very selective creature regarding the type of bottom that he likes to Live on, and I have found him thriving in the following environments: hard rock bottoms with lush growths of algae and kelp and intermittant outcroppings of boulders and rock ledges; smooth, hard rock bottoms with absolutely no bottom growth or rock outcroppongs. The specimens taken on this type of bottom are always very heavily coated with lime and are not desireable as specimen shells; silt bottom with large rock reefs or ledges and boulder rubble piled up in fromt of the ledges. This type of bottom seems to house the really chottce specimens, and they will be found clinging to the tops and sides of the boulders. Choice specimens may also be found partially buried in the silt edge where the sloping, backsides of each ledge meet the bottom. Heavily coated specimens may be found on the tops and vertical faces of the ledges, and I generally never even bother picking these up. It is very unusual to find P. macropterus residing in the silt channels between the rock reefs or ledges. Incidentally, I forgot to mention that these rock ledges are almost always located on a parallel plane with the shoreline, and the distance between each ledge varies between 19 feet and 190 feet, usually dependant upon the depth of the water. ‘They are located closer together in the deeper water, meaning 80 feet and up; this species muy also be collected on a silt bottom with a covering of small stones, and the shells will be found delicately perched on a piece of rubble approximately 1/10th his size. These are usually very choice, almost-uncoated specimens: and at last, this species may be found on large rock reefs which are sutrounded by large expances of coarse white sand. The specimens taken here are generally very heavily coated with various types of marine growth, especially a very destructive purple-colored growth that has the bad habit of almost completely eating away the variees of Murex. Needless to say, these latter specimens are not in any way collector's items, and I simply leave them alone. P. vokesae is a much more selective mollusk than his first cousin macropter.us and he choses only several types of bottom to live on, as follows: I have found this species to particularly favor the silt channels or expances between rock reefs or ledges, and they prefer to live in waters over 70 feet ( I found them to be quite evi- dent in 140 feet). They are occasionally collected in pairs or threesomes, but they seem to be prevalent as "loners" or singles. They will occasionally be found nestled comfortably underneath a breeding colony of P.macropterus on the boulder rubble that piles up in front of the rock ledges, sometimes with unidentified eggs in tow (the question might arise as to which species the eggs belong to, and I am baffled over this one.); this species may also be collected on silt bottoms with small stone rubble, in company and seemingly in perfect harmony with its favorite cousin macropterus; this shell does not like large rock reefs or ledges, and the occasional specimens that are taken here are very heavily coated and are not specimen shells. P. vokesae does not attract excess marine growth like P. macropterus, and the encrustations do not seem to anchor themselves as readily on the P. vokesae as they do on the P. macropterus. If there are heavy encrustations on a specimen of P. vokesae, they are almost always very easy to remove and hardly ever leave any damage to the exterior surface of the shell. I have observed that P. vokesae coats homself with a protective coating of silt and some sort of secretion from the mantle of the mollusk; this coating generally repels any serious growths of lime or other destructive marine encrustations, and it acts as a camoflage also. I have also seen, on rare occasions, P. macropterus that were coated with this protective covering, but not nearly so often as the P. vokesae. Once the Murex are collected it is then time to go through the drudgery of removing the living mollusk and cleaning the shell for the cabinet. There are nunmer- ous methods of doing this, but I will relate my own, personal method, which has worked in almost toolproof fashion for myself and my associates. First,I always individually scrub the surface of each shell with a soft-bristled toothbrush to remove the loose dirt and "grunge" that attaches itself to almost every shell beneath the sea ( I do this on my boat immediately after surfacing from a dive) . Excess amounts of mud or dirt will very quickly neutralize the potency of any cleaning agent that is being used, and it is a small chore to remove this material prior to taking the shells home for the final cleaning steps. After doing the above maneuver I always cull the load and take out the imperfect and broken specimens, which I personally return to their respective envoronments on the bottoms I also return all juvenile shells to their homes. Next I take the collected specimens home (my home that is) and place them in boiling waterfor approximately five minutes; this kills the mollusk and enables its removal from the external skeleton or shell. Removal of the mollusk can be accomplished by grasping the cooked material firmly with a sharp implement and gently twisting the * 7 * animal round and round in a clockwise manner till it comes out. In using the term “sharp implement" I could be talking about almost anything that could either grasp or be inserted into the cooked mollusk. After removing the mollusk I always save each operculum, as this is an important part of the shell. Once the animaland the operculum have been removed I then put the shells in straight pool chlorine bleach for varying lengths of time depending on the degree of coating. Murex may be left in bleach for almost any length oftime without causing any moticeable damage to the shell, but I find that a maximum soaking period of 2) hours will just about take care of anything clinging to the surface of the shells. After removalfrom the bleach thoroughly wash each shell with fresh water and then allow the shells to dry. Once the shells have completely dried the bleached coatings, having been undermined and saturated with chlorine, may be gently plucked away from the surface of the shell with knives, dental tools, ice picks, or anything that suits the desires of the collector. Now we have reached a very crucial stage in our cleaning operation, in that we are herewith pre- sented with that horrible question," Do I use acid on this one??:". So many times this question has crossed my mind, and I have worked it out to the best of my ability , via the sometimes painful process of trial and error. I find that a very light, brushed- on dab of commercial-grade Muriatic acid on the body whorl and varices of the smooth type P. macropterus will bring out a spot of color that was absent before the brushing. Again, I leave the above procedure strictly up to the individual who owns the shell, as some folks mght say that this is an unnatural, semi-artificial way of "coloring" the shell. I sometimes find the surface of the smooth type P. macropterus to be lightly covered with a misty, whitish-colored film after the preliminary cleaning stages, and the acid treatment or acid brushing (not an acid bath) removes this. I try not to use any acid in the spire and apex area, as it will ream out the sutures on the spire and give that particular area a very unhealthy, overcleaned appearance. I never use any acid on any Murex that have imbricated surfaces to their shells; this completely rules out P. vokesae and most of the variations of P. macropterus as being probable victims of the "dreaded acid treatment". Actually, it is aot all that bad, and some of my very finest, showpiecespecimens of P. macropterus were carefully treated with acid. Now we come to the final stage of our cleaning operation, which involves the replacement of natural oils in the surface of the shell which were removed during the boiling and bleaching steps of the cleaning process. Some collectors use a strange solution of glycerin and alcohol, some useJohnson's Baby Oil, but I use light gauge Squibbs Mineral O11. Thus far the only complaints that I have received regarding this particuiar phase of the cleaning operation were a few loud cries of "greasy fingers", which cannot be avoided unless one handles his or hers shells with gloves ( that's no fun). And finally, in closing out my discussion of the cleaning procedure I will urge every one to always replace the proper operculum with its proper mate. Now that I have excited every reader to the point of "frenzy", I will fur- ther advise each and every able person to travel to your nearest dive shop, rent some equipment for underwater diving, select your diving spot, and last but not least, follow my instructions as outlined in this article and collect your own P.vokesae and P. macropterus, thus eliminating the illustrious "middle-man", or in this particular case, the shell dealer. (In essence I have just slit my own throat]//!). Santa Barbara, California. + 8 CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN 3 etary- - Treasurer Editor I} Dorothy Janowsky Mr. Frank J. Nelson H Ralph Avenue 95-24 110th Street Itklyn, N.Y. 11236 Richmond Hill, N.Y. 11419 ---- CONTENTS COA Convention - 197) Dorothy Janowsky Minutes of the Business atu Ward Dorothy Janowsky a Pare Treasurers Report December) Si1y\ Dorothy Janowsky Speaking Out \ “099 109) QI Frank J. Nelson Pan Fried DEC 44 lee John Phillips Western Society of Malacotegiste | SeirtydntaBRARY Dorothy Janowsky The Bookfinder Frank J. Nelson We have made some changes in the Bulletin's format in getting this issue put-to-bed, all of us hope that you'll find it to your liking. The changes were planned to make for a more professional looking and one which will allow for some simplification of the handling. As one example of the greater ease of putting the text together you'll notice two entirely dif- ferent typewriters have been used in setting the pages, the nice neat typing of several of the pages, two through five for example were done for your editor by the kind offices of Miss Pat Rendell my Secretary who kindly bailed me out of the normal profanity sessions and two finger mangling of the typing, spelling, etc., which comes out of your editor's total lack of talent in that particular artform. For the neat and orderly typewritten pages thank Miss Rendell, and for the rest you can blame me. Another reason for the changes is to make for ease in getting camera ready copy to the printer. This will have as an added bonus at sometime in the future, the ability to use illustrations as well as text in the Bulletin. For a future issue we are planning to use the pages from a field note book in connection with an article on organizing ones field trips, and relating all of that smelly mess in the bottom of the collecting pail to the nice neat labels and boxes in your cabinets. Since the Minutes of the Business Meeting were written we have had word of a hitch in the plans of the Conchologists of South East Asia- Thai- land Chapter, as soon as we find out how their problems were resolved we'll advise you. ome pe sgn Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 COA CONVENTION - 1974 The third convention of the Conchologists of America was held at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, Washington from Thursday, June 13 to Sunday, June 16, 1974, After a morning of registration and getting to know one another, the convention was opened at 1 PM by our president, Kirk Anders, who extended a warm welcome to the attending members and guests and expressed his appreciation and thanks to our host and convention chairman, Tom Rice, for the excellent job he had done in planning this convention. He then turned the meeting over to Tom who spoke briefly, expressing his own welcome to all and introducing the co-host and hostess, Jerry and Agnes Ward. Papers, slide presentations, and films were enjoyed for the rest of the afternoon, with coffe breaks giving everyone an opportunity to discuss the presentations and to chat with the speakers. A no-host cocktail hour before dinner provided the perfect atmosphere for renewing those old acquaintances and for forming new ones. After dinner a "better late than never" cocktail party, given by Kirk, ended the first day ona merry note. Friday's program was a full one, with papers from 9 AM to 4:30 PM with lunch and coffee breaks interspersed. Lunch time gave an ideal opportunity to take a group photo - a difficult matter as at times we had more people snapping pictures than being photographed. That evening the no-host cocktail hour was followed by the banquet, then came the event we had all been anticipating - the shell auction. The donors of the shells had been extremely generous and goodies such as Gaza superba, Trophon avalonensis, Oocorys bartschi, and Conus villepinii were among the many highly desirable species to be sold. All shells had been on display during the convention and everyone was determined to take his favorites home with him. Under Tom's superb direction as auctioneer the bidding was very spirited, and at the end of the evening we discovered in amazement that we had raised $839.25 for our treasury. Thanks to everyone who participated, either as donor or as bidder, the success of this auction will be difficult to surpass. Saturday morning's papers, from 9 AM to noon, followed by the business meeting after lunch, ended the formal sessions of the convention. Inall, 61 people had registered and attended the programs. Saturday afternoon provided everyone with free time to wander through Woodland Park Zoo, visit the Pacific Science Center, catch a movie, or just browse through the shops on the waterfront. That evening we all boarded the Blake Island ferry for an evening of food and entertainment at Tillicum Village, Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 an Indian longhouse which features salmon barbecued over an open alder wood fire for dinner and authentic North Coast Indian dances afterward. Sunday was the day we had all been looking forward to - the day we would visit Tom's Of Sea and Shore Museum. The ferry took us across Puget Sound to the port of Bremerton where we made a short side trip to visit the USS Missouri, the battleship on which the treaty with Japan was signed ending World War II, We then headed towards Port Gamble, making one other short stop to take some photos of ''Tom!'s bridge" (where he works as bridge tender) which spans the Hood Canal, After a delicious lunch we arrived at the museum which is located in the restored portion of Port Gamble. Built in the nineteenth century as a saw mill company town, the original buildings of Port Gamble reflect the style of the New England towns from which the builders had originally come, The museum occupies the second floor balcony of the General Store and features educational exhibits of shells and other marine life. General displays which show the life forms to be found ona coral reef or along the shore line are interspersed with cases in which various families of molluscs are featured. There is also an extensive library of reference books available for use, We were very impressed with the superb job that Tom has done in planning and in setting up his museum and recommend it as a ''must'' for anyone in the area. All too soon it was time to head back to Seattle where we said our good-byes to those who would not be joining us on the three day field trip. Monday morning we were up and on our way quite early as we wanted to catch the low tide at Padillo Bay on an extensive mud flat area in Bayview State Park, The collecting was quite good and a new experience for those of us who had not "worked" a mud flat before. The most abundant species appeared to be Batillaria zonalis; several species of limpet were also quite common there, After several hours of collecting, admiring, and sharing our finds, we boarded the bus and headed for Deception Pass State Park. All marine life in this park (with the exception of fish) are protected, so no collecting was permitted. For this reason, tidepool life was quite abundant and, as always, fascinating to watch. Then on to Anacortes, where we boarded the ferry which would take us through the San Juan Islands and into Sidney, Vancouver Island. From there it was just a short ride to the lovely town of Victoria, capital of the island, where we spent the night. Early rising was on the agenda again for Tuesday, as we were eagerly anticipating a minus 2.0 low tide on the famed Victoria Breakwater. Built in steps from huge concrete blocks, the lower levels of the breakwater, when exposed, offer the collector an incredible variety of species and specimens. The shells were so abundant and so free of any surface incrustation that it was a simple matter to choose only a few of the best of each species, returning the others to their habitat. Thais lamellosa, extremely frilly and beautiful, and Katherina tunicata were extremely abundant, with Calliostoma ligatum, Thais Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 Page 4 lima and huge Cryptochiton stelleri only slightly less so. Some of the other species found were Collisella digitalis, Notoacmaea scutum, Diodora aspera, Tonicella lineata, Calliostoma annulatum, Fusitriton oregonensis, and many specimens of Haliotis kamtschatkana, collected and cleaned by the gulls and left for our taking. It was a very exciting morning of collecting and one which will be hard to equal. Back at our hotel rooms we dealt with our finds as best as we could, then hurried off for an afternoon of sightseeing in Victoria. Many of us decided to visit the well known Butchart Gardens, an old limestone quarry which had been turned from an eyesore into a spectacular, twenty five acre collection of rare and beautiful flowers and plants. A sunken garden, a rose garden, a formal English garden, anda Japanese garden were only a few of the separate areas, each horticulturally distinct from the others. Returning to Victoria, several of us took the Tally-Ho ride, ina horse drawn wagon, which took us on an hour long tour of the town, then visited the newly built Provincial Museum, Others had "high tea" at the famous Empress Hotel or was some of the many other attractions that Victoria has to offer. Leaving Victoria later that afternoon, we took the ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Angeles where we would be shelling the following day. Again rising early, this time to catch a minus 2,6 tide, we took the short ride to Freshwater Bay. This was a rocky area with a thick covering of kelp underfoot, which made the walking rather treacherous but provided excellent shelling. Again, Thais lamellosa was quite common, but a smooth, elongated form quite different from those we had found in Victoria. The other very abundant species was Fusitriton oregonensis, which might have been in breeding at that point (one was discovered laying an egg mass - aside from photographing it, we did not disturb it), Ceratostoma foliata was found in some quantity, with several specimens having quite a bit of pink coloration in the shell, Other finds were Thais emarginata, Ocenebra interfossa, Searlesia dira, and Tonicella lineata. As he had done the previous day, Jerry Ward donned his wet suit and bravely entered the cold water to do some snorkeling. One of his finds was a specimen of Haliotis kamtschatkana, which he had not collected in Freshwater Bay until then. All too soon it was time to return to the motel and get our shells and luggage packed for the return trip to Seattle, We drove down the Olympic Peninsula, stopping at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park for lunch. At an elevation of slightly under one mile, the view of the surrounding snow- capped mountains was breathtaking. We naturally could not pass up the oppor- tunity for a snowball fight and, for a while, snow was flying fast and furious, Continuing our trip we crossed Tom's bridge over Hood Canal, then picked up the ferry at Bremerton which would take us back into Seattle. Tired as some of Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 Page 5 us were, we were all sorry to see the trip come to an end - a lot of fun was had and many good friendships were begun among the thirty-four of us who had spent those three days together. Thanks to the time, thought, and just plain hard work of Tom and Aggie and Jerry Ward it was a trip and a convention that we would never forget, MINUTES OF THE BUSINESS MEETING The business meeting of the third Conchologists of America convention was called to order at | PM on June 15, 1974 by our president, Kirt Anders, who expressed his appreciation to everyone who had helped make this convention such a success. The Secretary's and Treasurer's reports were read and accepted and, as there was no old business to discuss, we moved on to the new business. A motion was made by Robert Janowsky to confer an honorary lifetime member- ship upon John Paduano in recognition of the time and effort he had devoted to the creation of the COA; this motion was unanimously approved. Bob then gave a brief report on the founding of the Conchologists of South East Asia - Thailand Chapter. A letter had been written to the COA by Mr. A. J. da Motta, of Bankok, Thailand, requesting information regarding the advisability and the methods of forming a shell club in his area. After receiving Bob's detailed reply, Mr. da Motta held his first meeting during which officers were elected and a constitution and by-laws were drafted. We extend to Mr, da Motta and to the members of Conchologists of South East Asia - Thailand Chapter our congratulations on their new club and our sincere good wishes for its future growth and development, Our final item of business was the election of officers for the coming year. Dr. Rita O'Clair, Robert Jensenand Jerry Ward, in their capacity as nominating committee, suggested the following slate of officers: President Thomas Rice Vice-President Phillip Clover Secretary/Treasurer Dorothy Janowsky ! assisted by Robert Janowsky Robert Janowsky was nominated to be Convention Chairman for the 1975 COA convention. A vote was then called for on each namination and each was accepted unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM. | | | | | Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 CONCHCLOGISTS OF AMERICA ~ TREASURER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1973 BALANCE APRIL 30, 1973 RECEIPTS - MEMBERSHIPS ~ INDIVIDUAL 10 CLUB ~~ 12 AUCTION 1973 CONVENTION EXPENSES ~ DUES IN AeM.U. FCR 1974 BALANCE AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1973 @ 417 Abu. CURRENT MEMBERSHIPS INDIVIDUAL dS CLUBS 4 CURRENT BALANCE AS OF MAY 31,1974 $ 610.16 Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 Speaking out Frank J. Nelson Instead of an editorial in the normal sense, it seems to me that in this issue of the Bulletin, I should simply list the follewing Editorial Com- mandments. 1) Thou shalt not accept mediocre work. Because someone has written an article, an editorial, or letter, you certainly needn't simply accept it. If there are errors of fact or epinions with which you de not agree:- send the editor a note with your corrections and comments. 2) Thou shalt not keep people in the dark. If you know abo.t some- thing that you feel the other members should know, write to the editor, do NO'' ass«re that someone else will do so. It's better that the editor should get ten letters about the same thing than none. 3) Thovw shalt not procrastinate. When ou have a comment or crit- icism to make. Remember that it's most effective when it's fresh in mind. 4) Thou shalt not avoid expressing criticism or praise. Most people thrive on praise - and praise that can be heard by others can have it's syner- gistic effects. Praise is usually a better stimulant to motivation than is criticism, but, only when it's deserved.. When praise is not well considered and deserved it brings with it almost a guarantee of poor work. 5) Thou shalt not overload. Don't just sit back and say "so and so! always submits an article or a letter, etc. so why should I? If one or several people are asked to carry the whole burden of a job they will inevitably turn poorer quality work, too much pressure doesn't allow one to be as critical of his own work as he should. 6) Thou shalt not discourage innovation. From time to time things will be published in the Bulletin which will not meet the criteria you have in mind for it. Criticise, by all means, even though what you feel is in- appropriate to the Bulletin is exactly what someone else thinks of as being entirely appropriate. Write to the editor and give your opinion, this is the only way we have of comparing your opinions with those of others. 7) Thou shall not take anything for granted. No one in the whole world can possibly know what you know or know what you want; keep us infor- med. If you think that there are services that C.0.A. should provide for it's members - perhaps it's because noone has ever brought it to our attention. Don't sit on your hands, share your thoughts with the whole membership. 8) Thou shalt not set a bad example. If I as editor let a Bulletin get published without it being the very best it can be, if I've allowed sloppy work to get issued, if I havn't checked facts, or if I have otherwise not done the very best job of which I'm capable :- then "Jump all over me". 9) Thou shalt not criticise thoughtlessly. That says it all!!! 10) Thou shalt not assume the role of Mr. Perfect. 11! 11) Thou shalt not ignore what others regard as important. When sug- gestions are made to the editor, see that the membership as a whole has the chance to comment on them before they are dropped from consideration. Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 Page 8 12) Thou shalt not demonstrate lack of confidence. In trying to es- tablish democratic guidelines for the Bulletin, to get the best quality, and set the highest standards, the membership as contributors can and must be en- couraged to set and maintain those standards. All of that "high-blown verbiage" is a way of saying that the success of the Bulletin is entirely dependant upon the interaction between editor and reader. We know that a better Bulletin can only result from having more and better material from which to chose, more thoughtful and thought provoking criticisms from the readers, and more concern on the part of reader and writer alike. When I introduced myself several issues ago I laid out the rules by which I shall govern my responsibilities as editor. Some of those statements were and are statements of personal and private bias, but a bias derived from reading many papers etc., put out by amateur shell groups. The stature and substantiveness of those publications have been eroded by such ego trips as downright bad poetry, and by printing children's crib sheets masquerading as precocius erudition; however allowing all of the highly democratic rules above to apply without editorial supervision and some sometimes very undemo- cratic twisting of the ground rules could totally destroy what we are trying to do. When we can all take pride in the Bulletin and keep that pride up as time goes by then and only then can we really say that the Bulletin and C.0.A. as well are flourishing and all of our efforts have meant something. Good enough will never be enough! PAN FRIED by JOHN PHILLIPS Probably one of the finest delicacies to come out of the sea is pan fried San Diego Scallops (Pecten diegensis Dall, 1898); unfortunately this is a gourmet's delight which very few individuals have sampled, and I sincer- ely wish that I could personally convey the savory flavor of this mollusk to every food-loving individual in the world. I have the fortune (7?) of being a six year veteran of the commercial abalone diving business, and I have spent countless hours on the bottom of our Southern California waters in search of our tasty Haliotis and other desirable seashells, ene of these be- ing the elusive Pecten diegensis. Pecten diegensis has leng been on the very rare, rare, or scarce list, and I will concur with the writings of any conchologist or malacologist who claims that this is one of the harder-to-obtain Southern California seashells. I searched long and hard before I found my first specimen in 105 feet of water off Coho Anchorage, which is located approximately two miles southeast of Point Concepcion Lighthouse. I generally collect Pecten diegensis in depths varying from 45 (rarely) feet and 10 feet; however, the larger concentrations of this species seem to centralize themselves in the deeper waters over 80 feet. Many people seem to have the feeling that Pectens can only be collected on sandy or silty bot- toms; this might hold true for many species of Pecten or Chlamys, but I find the diegensis living happily on a variety of bottoms (ie. silt or mud with rock rubble, coarse sand bottem with rock rubble, silt or mud pockets in rock reef areas, very seldom in strictly sand or silt bottoms, and quite often I find them laying amongst large rocks or boulders with no sand or silt any- where nearby). It seems to be a fairly gregarious species, in that I generally Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 Page 9 manage to locate more than one specimen at a time in the same general area. [I once collected eight fully adult shells ( 3" and up) in a ten foot radius, and I suspect that there were probably more hiding beneath the silt or sand in the same spot. I have foind that the best way to spot Pecten diegensis is to swim very slowly approximately ten to fifteen feet off the ocean floor, water vis- ibility permitting of course; the scallops do not seem to spot a diver as quickly this way, whereas if you blunder along the bottom this clever moll- usk will spot you nine times out of ten and will accordingly take the necess- ary precautions against the hands of the wo.ld-be collector. Generally speak- ing, Pecten diegensis will be found partially or completely buried in the sand or silt, wmless you are lucky enough to locate one that has swum onto a rock reef and is lying there fully unprotected. When they are comfortably nestled in the silt or sand they will then execute their only protection against foes, which is camoflage; they are absolute masters of this, and even the trained eye of a seasoned veteran of Pecten collecting will more often than not, not distinguish the faintly visible silhouette of this shell as it lurks beneath the bottom. When the Pectens are at ease they slightly open the two valves and protrude their many eyes along the outer edge of the shell. I have no idea what they are looking for with all those lovely eyes, and it is indeed a very strange experience to catch a colony of Pecten diegensis napping" like so many grains of irridescent sand amongst all of the other grains of sand on the ocean floor ( this is how their eyes appear). Whenever the Pectens sense danger approaching their domain they immediately draw in their eyes, close their shells tightly, and somehow cause a small trickle of sand or silt to settle along the outer, once visible perimeters of their shells, thus sealing them off from the "outside" world and all its dangers. They have even managed to support and even encourage the growth of colenies of algae on the flattened top valves of the shells, and this can easilly be mis- taken for common bottom growth. Actually it gives them the appearance of tiny scallop-shaped "forests", standing out in relief against the drab- colored backdrop of a rock reef or a sandy/silty bottom. Once you the diver have learned to spot this little forest the rest is comparitively easy and you are on your way to your very first meal of pan fried San Diego Scallop. W. Ss. M. CONVENTION The seventh annual meeting of the Western Society of Malacologists was held in the Kellogg West Conference Center of California State Polytechnic College in Pomona, California on June 19 - 22, 1974. Dr. James H. McLean, the current President of the W. S. M., was the Convention Chairman. The presented papers were, for the most part, highly technical, but were interspersed with reports of collecting trips and scenes of last year's meeting. A silent auction on Thursday night, in which bids were written next to the shell of ones choice, provided fun for all and enriched the treasury by about $250.00. The banquet was held Friday evening following a no-host cock- tail party. The featured speaker for the evening was Dr. Clyde E. Roper of the U. S. National Museum of Natural History who presented an excellent slide program on Cephalopoda. Conchologists of America Bulletin 3 Che “Book finder For those of you with an interest in following John Phillips' recipe for dinner some evening, your appetites might get in the way but a discussion of Pecten diegensis Dall appears on page 302 of "Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series, Vol. XXI, No. 25, The Templeton Crocker Expedition of the California Academy of Sciences, 1932 Number 25, The Recent Pectinidae, by Leo George Hertlein. To continue the concept that we started in Bulletin Number 2 for the library resources that you might not have touched upon:- PUBLICATIONS DEPARTMENT MJSEJM OF COMPARITIVE ZOOLOGY HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 02138 Have for sale three series of great interest and value to the serious collector, they are Bulletins, Occasional Papers on Mollusks, and Johnsonia. Perhaps all of you have already either seen or subscribed to these publications and if you have there is very little that I can say to further describe then, but for those not familiar with the Molluscan Fauna of the Western Atlantic region Johnsonia is a continuing series of monographs on the various Families and Genera in this Zooeogeographical Region and are invaluable for collectors with material which comes from anywhere in this area. SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS DPT. M-1 ACADEMY OF NaTURAL SCIENCES 19th and THE PARKWAY PHILADSLPHIA, PHNNSYLVANIA 19103 Also have several serial publications, Notulae Naturae, Proceedings, Monographs, and Special Publications, the contents of these series are so ex- tensive that it would be futile for me to make any attempt to point to any one of them without going into a several page listing of the important ones if all that I did was to produce a listing of the titles. ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. 111 FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK, N#W YORK 10003 Are a publisher of many highly specialized books in fields covering almost all of the sciences, but, I'd like to call your attention to two titles in their current list:- Medical and Economic Malacology, by Emile A. Malek and Thomas C Cheng Molluscicides in Schistosomiasis Control, Edited by Thomas C. Cheng these are each expensive and highly specialized in their focus but I felt that there might be some value in calling your attention to the obvious fact that what we are interested in from one point of view has another area of investigation which has a very wide ranging effect on all of the populace of the world. Just in case you are interested the prices of the two books above are $ 29.00 and 12.50 respectively CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA _ BULLETIN nee t/ )Secretary-Treasurer . Editor Mrs. Dorothy Janowsky Mr. Frank J. Nelson 946 Ralph Avenue Mal RT ar 1) 95-24 110th Street iBrocklyn, N.Y. 11236 yi SULA YY |B | | | Conticie cro 0 hid / \U) i Speaking Out y DEL ee iyi Frank J. Nelson P. 1 Haiti, A Unique Expertencan cri | IBRARY Lee Nelson P. 2 The Bookfinder Frank J. Nelson , Speaking out Franks. Nelson Another issue of the Bulletin, and you are going to hear the same old com plaint - NO CONTRIBUTIONS - I don't like to be so repetitious and belabor the point of the amount of work which falls on the Editor when he can call on only himself and his wife to be all of the authorship in an entire issue. Richmond Hill, N.Y. 11419 Don't alibi about the lack of time at your disposal, I have a full time job, am presently the president of The New York Shell Club; do all of the materia] gather- ing for the Bookfinders have the publication of The New York Shell Club Notes from my home every month; am the typical hammer and saw in hand householder; I manage a little Sleep now-and-then; and I show the visible effects of many good meals, One of the good things that comes of reading all of the trade publications that land on my desk is the occasional chance that I can crib an idea from someone else's material, Recently I ran into this one 3- tj "In a now classic experiment conducted by the Psychology Department of Col- umbia University, a group of volunteers had i-pound weights suspended from their index fingers, They were instructed to crook the finger - thus lifting the weight - for as long as they possibly could. Only when they were certain that they could no longer budge the weight were they to signal the psychologist in charge, Some of the volunteers were able to lift the weight 100 times or more. But Sooner or later, each one reached his own individual point of total exhaustion. His finger felt paralyzeds the weight seemed a ton, None of the subjects could see any of the others and as each succumbed in turn, the psychologist hurried over to him and whispered something in his ear, In every single case, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, the voluntepr was able to lift the weight many more times after listening to what the psychologist had to say. Some were able to lift the weight more than 20 times past the point they were initially convin- ced represented complete exhaustion. Several subjects bettered their original per~ formance by almost 30 percent. | What magic phrase did the psychologist employ? Simple. , What he whispered was this; 'From this point on, I will give you a dollar for every time you succeed in lifting the weight! A dollar bill for just crooking the index finger! It worked like magic, Sud- denly, fingers came to life. The weights moved swiftly, firmly. Why? Because nothing is geared to extract the last ounce of effort out of a human being better than a REWakD." ; I can't offer dollar bills but surely getting into print is a reward, and helping other people with the same interests is rewarding, I know that it sure is for me, and I think that it is the same with all of us. Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 2 Haiti, A Uniaue Experience Considering its tarnished reputation, I don't know what caused my husband and I to change our vacation plans and go to Haiti with the Kirk Anders’ Tour group last March. Our Fairy Godmother must have had a hand in it, because it proved to be one of the most fortu- nate decisions we ever made. People sometimes evasively use the word "unique" when they can't think of anything complimentary to say, yet must say something. Also, I recently heard it said, by a visitor to this country, that Americans tend to use the word too liberally, when a thing is not, in fact, unique. On both counts I plead not guilty. It's not at @ll difficult to say nice things about Haiti. And I do mean "unique" in the strict sense --- one of a kind, singular, unlike anything else. I'm in no way.implying that the other islands of the Caribbean are all alike, but I doubt that any are sufficiently different from all the others as to be called unique, As the second oldest independent country in the western hemisphere, having attained its independence in 180, Haiti has probably retained more of its African heritage than any of the other Caribbean countries. One of the means by which this African culture has been maintained is through the practice of Voodoo, which is based on the old African tribal religions, with overtones of Catholicism, Because the early slaves did not resist forceable conversion to Catholicism by the French, but instead superficially embraced it, and incorporated into Voodoo many of its beliefs and practices, Voodoo has survived repeated and persistent attempts to suppress it. And over the years, Voodoo has become so ingrained into the Haitian culture and soul as to be almost synonymous with Heiti. Its early history as a French colony has, of course, left Haiti with a very French flavor, But the early severing of ties with France has allowed this to evolve away from the French into Creole. Even the islands of the French West Indies are not colonies, but actually departments of France itseif, and consequently, much more truly French than Haiti. Geographically, Haiti has the highest and some of the most rugged mountains in the Caribbean, and it is one of the very few countries in the area to share an island with another government. The Dominican Republic, tying to the east, occupies 2/3 of the island of Hispaniola, with Haiti the western third. And unlike the open border of the half French, half Dutch island of St. Maarten, the Haitian-Dominican border is a rigidly closed one, Economically, it is the poorest of the Caribbean countries, with the average annual cash income estimated at between $50 and $75 per capita. Demo- graphicaily, its approximately 5,000,000 population is overwhelmingly Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 3 black, including a fair number of mulattos, with only about 3,000 whites, And a happier, friendlier people you won't find anywhere. There seems to be no resentment whatsoever toward the tourist because of either ‘his color or his greater affluence, | From the moment our plane landed in Port-au-Prince, and we faced the unpleasant ritual of customs and immigration, the people couldn't have been more pleasant and cooperative, Then, before we had time to recover from this unexpected friendliness, we were whisked “away in a bus through appallingly poor but fascinating suburbs and small towns, to the dock where we were to get the boat for Cacique Island and the Ibo Beach Hotel. Once on the island, to reach the hotel, we went along a cement walk in which Voodoo designs had been created with bits of staghorn coral. The following morning, by daylight, we discovered that many of the buildings and cottages were connected by these interesting walkways. Inthe open-air bar, we were invited to relax over a welcoming rum punch (and what a punch it hadi) while being assigned to our cottages. By then, it was totaily dark, and we had to be escorted to our rooms by flashlight. After that, we were on our own and somehow managed to find our way back to the dining room for dinner without mishap. After dinner, we naturaily couldn't sleep until we had done what we all sent there to do --= go shelling. Armed with flashlights, we searched along the sea wall, climbed over rocks and around mangrove roots, never more than a foot or two into the water, since we hadn't yet seen this area in daylight. We found Nerite peloranta, N. tessellata, N. fulgurens, N. versiceler, Planaxis nucleus, Acanthopleura ranulata, Litterina zZiczac, and some Purpuras. After the tiring trip, a stiff rum punch, and then shelling, we were all happy to fall into bed, and I doubt that anyone stayed awake for long to enjoy the heavenly breeze and the sound of the waves lapping the shore just a few feet from our cottages. Perhaps we were all too tired, too excited, or too "punchy" that first evening to notice, but I don't recail having any difficulty at dinner. Breakfast, on the other hand came as a bit of a shock. Seven-thirty in the morning is no time to be faced with the alterna- tive of remembering a little high school French or of starving! Haitians (except for the elite) speak Creole, with some French and less English. But fortunately they appreciate any attempt to speak to them in French, however poor or ungrammatical it may be. So, with their limited English and our limited French, our attempts to communi- cate were met with great good humor and much fun all around. We quickly learned to give our room numbers in French and, for the most part, got what we ordered to eat. With our orientation to the island and a few other incidentals like food and sleep out of the way, we were ready to do some serious Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 4h collecting. Cacique, a private island located northwest of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonave, lies about a half mile off shore, The water here was clear and calm (great for snorkeling), and a lovely coral reef lies just off shore in shallow water, running the length of the island on the gulf side. It was along this reef, around the eastern end of the island and into the channel between Cacique and the mainland that we did most of our shelling. There were Murex pomum, Strombus raninus, S. ugilis (one an albino), S. gigas, 5. costatus, Xenophora conchyliophora, assis flammea, Coralliophila abbreviata, C. caribaea, Thais TeltsLisg, tT, haemostoma, T. rustica, Drupa nodulosa, Leukozonia nassa, ra nodulosa, Columbella mercatoria, and Cantharis tinctus. Many Cyphoma {bbosum were orawling on the purple sea fans, and the sea wall pro- Siced Ac anthopleura granulata, Acmaca antillarium and Fissurella barbadensis. Kirk Anders found a Chione that, as far as 1 know, is still unidentified, and I believe that there were only two Conus pegiue collected. The mangrove roots and gorgonias were covered w ognomon alata, I. radiata, Ostraea frons, Pinctada radiata and Pteria co OS, but many other bivalves (Codakia orbicularis, @llina fausta, rpeerete laevigatum, and Asaphis defilorata) were found dead. Hermit crabs re- iuctantly gave up Mienas Cérithiums and other small shells. Along the shore of the eastern end of the island, rocks, plants and trees were polka-dotted with thousands of Tectarium muricatus, while at the western end we found the sand inside the foundation of the future dive shop black with miliions of Batillaria minima, Perhaps the most exciting finds were made by Kirk Anders and Jeff Welling, who each found a Latirum megintyi, aithough Jeff's was sadly lost or misplaced, But it would be impossible to give a complete list of ail the species found by all fourteen members of the group. Being the lone misfit in the crowd who was more interested in non-marine shells than in marine, I couldn't wait to explore the un- developed north side of the island, On several trips into this brush and cactus covered area, my husband and I found 6 different species of land snails, most of them estivating on the cacti. I haven't yet identified them accurately, but there are two very interesting Macroceramus. Exploring this side of the island was hot and tiring, and once we thought that we tad lost Corinne Edwards, who accompanied us, On one trip we were rewarded by watching and photographing the mating dance of a peacock that was much annoyed by our intrusion into his territory. But he retaliated one evening by arrogantly and very noisily parading around among the cottages on "our side" of the island. Eight of us chartered a boat one day to go to Petican Reef and Sand Cay, about 5 miles out in the Gulf of Gonave. We didn't find anything very different here except Pinna carnea, but nowhere did we see Cyphoma gibbosum in such numbers, It was a perfect day for a trip like this, with the sun hot and bright, and the water caim and crystal- clear. Petican Reef, in particular, is a wonderland of colorful corals, sea fans, gorgonias and lively, inquisitive tropical fish in every shade of the rainbow, The beauty of this reef more than made up for the paucity of shells, Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 5 Although it was a delightful day, we were all hot, tired and sunburned, and quite happy to get back to the hotel with its showers and rum punch, The Ibo Beach is a pleasant and relaxing hotel, with its informality especiaily well suited to shell collectors. There are, at present, about 70 separate, attractive and airy cottages Situated near the water on white sand and protected by many shade trees. There are 3 swimming pools, one with a waterfall, and facilities for many other activities. Construction on the new open-air dining room and bar was nearing an end, as was the landscaping of the eastern end of the island, As the owner of the hotel (and of the island) outlined for us his plans for improvement and enlargement, I know that at least some of us were looking forward to a return trip some day. Our last day in Haiti was spent sight-seeing on the mainland. Compared to most of the Caribbean countries, Haiti is a very large one, and in one day we saw only a small sample of what it has to offer. Fortunately for us, this happened to be market day, and the countryside was made much more colorful and interesting by the hundreds of peasants walking or riding burros to and from market with loads of assorted produce on their heads, by ox carts, open-air markets teeming with people, and by hordes of street vendors that descended like a plague of locusts wherever we stopped. We passed through Port-au-Prinos, jammed with people buying and selling their wares, and through the fashionable suburb of Petionville. Then south of the city, we climbed higher and higher on narrow, winding roads, with a breathtaking and different view at each turn in the road ~-- here a small glimpse of the capitol or the Guif, there gardens terraced into the hillside, and everywhere the road lined with peasants walking or selling an endless variety of merchandise, And on approaching each turn in the road, the driver gave out with a blast on the horn, against the ever-present possibility that another vehicle was hurtling down the mountain toward us. We stopped at a large, open-air market where an unbelievable assortment of foodstuffs was spread out in piles on the ground, crude shacks were aflutter with clothing of every color of the spectrum, and small fires, over which women were cooking concoctions of doubtful origin, gave off an acrid smeii. The women and older girls were bustling back and forth with that amazingly graceful walk that can only be achieved after years of carrying heavy loads on their heads. The smaller children, who spoke a surprising amount of English, were all vying with each other to act as our guides or to have their picutes taken for, of course, a price. They were, for the most part, unusually attractive children with beguiling and friendly smiles, yet with a subtle maturity in their manner and expression. Higher up the mountain, we stopped at Le Perchoir for a panoramic view of Port-au-Prince, the Gulf and the Cul-de-Sac plain, all ringed with the high, rugged mountains, From there, we made a stop at the Barbancourt Rum Factory in a beautiful old castle that clings to the Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 6 side of the mountain. There, in the dim coolness of the thick stone walls, amid rich Mediterranean decor, we sampled 17 different flavors of rum liqueur. Several of the flavors were, in all honesty, dreadful, but most were good and several outstanding. And with apologies to the other rum-producing countries of the Caribbean, I must say that Barbancourt is the aristocrat of rums, On the way down the mountain, we made several stops where we haggled over wood carvings, drums, goatskin rugs, etc. And haggle you must’ This is no time for timidity. Unless you are willing to be "taken", you have to match the perseverance of the vendors with an equal amount of firmness. A number of us made purchases quite satis- factory to both parties, and we all cheered as Germaine Warmke finally talked down the price on a rug to her limit just as our driver was set to pull out. In Petionville, a charming restaurant offered us an opportunity to relax over a sumpuous lunch and freshen up a bit before going back into Port-au-Prince. In town, we saw the Presidentiait Palace and the Palace Guard, various embassies and parks, the famous status "The Slave" that commemorates the slave revolt that culminated in Haitian independence, statues of severai national heroes, the main Post Office, the lovely wide Boulevard Harry S. Truman that borders the harbour, and everywhere the quaint, colorful camions (small, inex- pensive, decorated, over-crowded local buses). Of course, each stop was met with the ever-present crowd of vendors, and although the day was far too short for all that we wanted to see and do, we were quite sips to head back to the boat for our cool, quiet little island. I dontt know what it is about shell collectors and shelling trips, but they seem to attract more than their normal share of humorous incidents, and this one was no exception. Every day seemed to bring something different. If it wasn't the daily struggle to communicate with our waiter before starvation set in, it was in trying to get sufficient lemonade for an impromptu party in the McKnight's cottage, a party thrown specifically to use up a bottle of vodka and at which the vodka outlasted the lemonade. But the final day, when we were stuck for a couple of hours in that limbo between immigration and the plane, reduced us ail to tears of hilarity. An unsuspecting, German- speaking tourist made the mistake of trying to use Phyilis Welling's large, plastic collecting pail for a trash receptical. The language barrier, as well as the startling humor of it, made any explanation nearly impossible. And to this day, the poor man is no doubt wondering about that seemingly demented American, who was too surprised to do anything but sit there hugging her pais and saying "No, no, nol". Perhaps the strain of laughing was too much for it, but shortly after that, a zipper broke, as they have a way of doing at the worst possible moment. It must have been Corinne Edwards military training that saved the day, because she was the only one with a safety pin handy, thus saving my husband from possible arrest for indecent exposure, Conchologists of America | Bulletin 4 Haiti is a country so full of surprises and contrasts that each person must necessarily come away with a somewhat different impression. For me, the most vivid memories will always be the cheerfulness and friendliness of the people, in the face of their appalling poverty, But I think, for convenience and safety, anyone thinking of going there for the first time would do well to learn a bit about it before- hand, Roads between the urban areas are poor at best, and sometimes dangerous or , impassable, No tourist should expect to visit for a week or two and cover the whole country from Port-au-Prince to Jeremie, Jacmel and Cap Hatien, although air fare between these cities is quite reasonable, Aside from the usual dysentery, there are several diseases, including malaria, that one should be aware of and take the proper precautions, Sanitary facilities and safe water are virtually non-existent in most of the rural areas, and except for the small children, the peasants generally do not want to be photographed, At no time did the authorities interfere with our movement or activities, or in any way give us a bard time. Some political refugees reportedly say that conditions in Haiti have worsened, and perhaps for those engaged in political subterfuge, they have. But I think that the point of view of a political refugee might necessarily and expectedly be somewhat colored and biased, and the average tourist would be ina rather different position, with respect to the authorities, than a Haitian who is actively engaged in politics, The present government has instituted some very ' ambitious programs in health, education, sanitation, irrigation, soil conservation, etc. And I certainly believe that no tourist need have any fear of going to Haiti if he is prepared quite simply to behave as a visitor in any country should, Lee Nelson ie “Bookfinder The Bookfinder of this issue of the Bulletin will deal with) a@ single topic - one with which many of you will have had no ex- perienc e: Microforms. The term Microforms, in general, is used to mean either Microfilm or Microfiche, and by a greater extension any photographic reproduction of original material in a smaller format. In the formal sense the ordinary snap-shot is a microform of the view which was Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 8 seen by the camera lens, ani the negative is the first generation microform or the microform master. The first experience that many of the older of us have had with the field of applied microfilming was with the World War II use of "V-mail", which permitted the over- seas transport of almost ten million letters on reels of microfilm in oné single cargo plane. To better conceptualize the weight saving alone that was able to be effected by the use of microfiln, mail tonnaye transported overseas was reduced from 2,700 tons to 31 tons per day during many months of the war years. For the storage ani retrieval of information the microforms most frequently used are Microfilm and Microfiche. Microfilm is defined, is. the restricted sense in which we are using it in this. report, as document rors Snhotne rorm of roll film, either 16mm Ores >. a1, usuellyeinuro.is of 100 feet, or in some cases iu roll film c-rtridges (a single roll of microfilm can easily contain alt of the information stored in an entire file cabinet drawer) In conjunction with a microfilm reader, records can be searched and Sore tion located in a Fraction of the time required to zo through Paper records. Inherent within the roll film storage system are great advantages and great drawbacks - the enormous number of images per roll. As 4n example 100° of 16mm film can contain 26,000 Siencard 3% 2 5" file cords or 10,700 letter sizé “ages in a fixed serial order. This means that with an average pave content of books of 400 pp each, a Single roll with a content of 26 standard printed vooks would have to be dealt with every time a single page reference was required which would be a very burdensome procedure. Conchologists of America Bulletin Page 9 Changes in any document so stored, additions of new material or information requires the rephotographing of entire rolls of film. Revision or up-dating becomes a very complex and costly procedure when using roll stored information, For all of the reasons above, the concept of unitized micro- forms comes to mind, each entire unto itself or at least containing a significant part of the whole sequence of information. At the outset of microform document storage, the number of formats pro- liferated into a vast ani unworkable number each with a different number of pages per unit and with a different reduction ratio from the original. Several formats are still in use, most, for highly specialized uses only, those on tabulating or bookkeeping machine size cards ani those which are designed for microfiche cards only. The tabulating card sized formats are Aperture Cards, each contain- ing a single engineering drawing reduced to approximately 60:1, Which permits the retnetion of drawings in each stage or revision. These are usually augmented by the use of specialized aperture cards with openings for 16mm film strips to contain parts lists, bills of material, specifications etc., which require continuous easy access. Much has been argued a hete past; that this format permits key punching or other machine processing to make use of rapid access or random access filing methods. It is interesting to note, however, that this is beins done in only « very few cases. The especially popular system for microfiche, as the unitized docu- ment recording format, is ia individual 9cm x 12 cm or 105mn x 148.75im size transparancies. All of the various standardized formats of microfiche have a human readable title area. The very — Conchologists of America Bulletin 4b Page 10¢ large aumber of formats have been reduced to six, the distinguishing features of which are: 105mm which reduces a single document to a maximum Bir ee 1251 COSATI (Committee of Scientific and Technical Information) which in a format of 5 rows of 12 columns reduces 60, 83" x 11" pages toa maximun 20:1 reduction NMA (The National Microfilm Association) which in a format of 7 rows of.14 columns reduces 98, 8&3 x 11" pages to a maximum reduction of nd DOD (Department of Defense) and (European) which in a format of 5 rows of 12 columns reduces 60, 83" x 14" pages or European Letter Sheets to a maximum 24:1 reduction. In addition, there are two formats which are wi ceemeiae ly packed: “HR Fiche (High Reiluction Fiche) which can condense 2100, ga" x 11" pages in an array of 30 rows of 70 columns to a maximum reduction of 12021 Ultra HR Fiche (Ultra High Reduction Fiche) which can condense 3200, 83" x 11" pages in an array of 40 rows of 80 columns to a maximum reduction ‘of 150:1. The two histh reduction microfiches are expensive to produce, have many of the same drawbacks of microfilm anid also require very highly specialized and expensive readers. Commercially available microfiches are produced in the COSATI, NMA, and DOD formats for which most of the accessible readers are also maie. Microfiche masters (first generation microfiches) are produced by photograph- ing books, pamphlets etc., on either 105mm film in a step and repeat camera, which produces the entire fiche on a single negative, Conchologisis of America Bulletin b Page 11 or by using a 16mm roll film camera and cutting the roll negative into strips to produce the master. In both mastering techniques the masters are then reproduced by conventional photographic methods to yLeld a silver or diazo positive. In a later issue of the bulletin we will run a survey of the readers, files, and other anciliary equipment used with Microfiche libraries. Since the primary purpose of the Bookfinder is to make our. readers aware of library resources, be they in public, private or individual libraries, the rest of this discussion will be devoted to a sampling of some of the Microfiches available from Inter Documentation Company AC. Poststrasse 14 6300 ZUs Switzerland. This firm has at poe in excess of 300,000 volumes in "Micro-Library" form in stock. The criteria in choosing material which they haveldecided: to produce iiriiicrofiche are: 4) Difficulty of access (parts of material may be located in widely separated locations) 2) Evidence of Need( material not readily located in ‘the Antiquarian Book market) 3) Recommendation of Scholars in the Field 4) Usefulness in Research 5) In its conventional form, material requires ex- cessive storage space oe w) CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN Secretary-Treasurer Editor Mrs. Dorothy Janowsky : Mr. Frank J. Nelson 946 Ralph Avenue mM ar init y 95-24 110th Street Brocklyn, N.Y. 11236 a pane Nt Richmond Hill, N.Y. 11419 ei On Rare Shells William E. Old,dr. Conus pyrodens, The Almost Incredible Story Behind the Name Milton Werner The Bookfinder Frank and Lee Nelson Another issue of the Bulletin ready to print and we have two firsts - humor in Mike Werner's story of the Fire Tooth Cone, which will not, I hope, be our last laughing look at the shell world. The other first is my illustrations of various -- _ features of Conus odens, don't blame Mike for them. My insertion of my ow “art work" with his article was done with an ulterior motive, to show that we can print line drawing: and sketches. Keep in mind that an article can often be mich improved with an illus- tration, to clarify a point, or with a sketch map of a collecting area. If you do sub- mit an article with sketches or maps, keep them simple and original, please - someone else's illustrations really do not fit your articles as well as your own will. ‘I think that the overall quality of the Bulletin is continuing to improve, in this issue we have had the benefit of better proofreading to discover the little errors that do creep in. Since I've lost my secretary to matrimony, I'm responsible for any typing "boo-boos" you might find. Our Fourth Annual Convention will be in Virginia Beach, Virginia this year October th through 7th with the Windjammer Motor Lodge as our base of operations. Of particular interest this year will be the trip to Colonial Williamsburg which figured prominently in the events of 200 years ago. The Field Trip is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at the well known Rice's Fossil Pit, which will give many people their first fossiling experience. (Among the best features of a fossiling expedition is that your collecting pail doesn't develop that smell.) If you haven't already gotten the inform- ation on the Convention, write directly to Dorothy Janowsky. For what it's worth, Lee and I have done some vacation juggling and will be able to attend this year. We're looking forward to meeting those of you that we haven't met before and renewing our acquaintence with the rest. See you then! Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 2 Speaking out Frank J. Nelson It's real fun to be the editor of a publication like the Bulletin but it | does carry with it a degree of responsibility, as indeed any "ego trip" does. We are carrying in this iesue a review of a book that I didn't care for. As I did not like thie) book, I asked my wife Lee to read it too; the review as it appears is our combined effort. All of that preamble is to introduce this explanation of the way in which I feel an editor's or a reviewer's responsibility operates. If one reads a book, thought- | fully, and reviews it favorably, in whatever terms, then everyone concerned is happy - Author, Publisher, Bookseller and Reading Audience. If on the other hand one decides that a favorable review is not proper, a decision has been made which has its effect on the livelihood of three members of that chain, and a regard for them compels an entire- ly different point of view. It is not enough to take the easy way out and ignore the very existance of the book, inasmuch as the reviewer's first responsibility is to the reader and not the writer. Neither can one, in good conscience, write a glib and facile "put-down" of the work. A regard for the author and the reader as well requires a full and thoughtful criticism of all of these reasons for which a book requires such a review. Further, if any one purchases a book on the recommendation of the reviewer, | it lies on the reviewer to see that hard-earned money is not wasted on a book not worthy | of ite price. | Minor mistakes or mishaps will appear in any book, and even errors of fact of | a minor nature weigh little in a work of generally good quality. If the errors and other lapses in a book are so pervasive as to render it not only of small value, but are perhaps so bad as to generate opinions or impart information which are grossly false and misleading, then this mst be covered at greater length and with more care. No author approaches the writing of a book without a certain amount of vanity showing, thougt if one has something of value to pass on to the reader, vanity is not a grievous fault. | When, on the other hand, an author has no more reason to write than the display of vanity then this is not enough, by a very large margin, to justify the cutting down of the first tree to produce the paper on which to print it. For those of you who haven't heard of them there are several publishing firms called in the trade "vanity presses", organized to prowide the authors of utter trash with an avenue to having a book published, and for this service the author guarantees a minimum sale. I am not accusing either this author or this publisher of this practice, but I am pointing out that there are factors other than real value that inspire the production of books. Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 3 On Rare Shells by William E. Old, Jr Not long after I came to the Museum a well-known Florida collector wrote, "How I envy you being there at the Museum and everyone coming in with their rare shells? I replied that this sounded like wishful thinking. In the past decade, rar- ities or so-called rare shells have materialized at the rate of about one per year. In every case, the shell brought or sent was directly from the country of origin. Thet old sheli from the attic or grandma's whatnot stand wes proved to be just that w------ merely an old shell (and of no particular value). To the novice, literally any cylindrically shaped gastropod shell is a " Glory-of-the-Sea Cone" and any Cowrie Shell is invariably envisioned as being a long lost specimen of Cypraea leucodon. As I recall,the first pergon to bring in a genuinely rare specimen was a collector who had just purchased a Cypraea langfordi and wanted to show it to me. An associate, Anthony D'Attilio, once obtained a specimen of Cymatium ranzanii, a species that had been described in 1851 and was unobtainable for years. Tony's specimen had been collected in Mozambique. Later, in breaking up an old dis- play of shells, a shell from an old collection and labeled as Cymatium femorale, turned out to be a specimen of Cymatium ranzanii.e A second similar case was that of a collector who had shown me a dextral (right-handed) specimen of Busycon contrarium that he had collected in the Ft. Mrers Beach area. In removing a dusty shell labeled Busycon carica from another display, I felt that it was actually another dextral spec- imen of Busycon contrarium. Here were two "sleepers" found on the premises. Two guesses that proved to be correct were in a small parcel received from a contact in Zanzibar. I mused that perhaps it would contain a specimen of Cymatium ranzanii., Then opened the parcel to find that the guess had been correct. A second guess was the receipt of a small registered parcel from a friend in Florida. Cypraea surinamensis was my thought, since the sender owned one. Bingo! He had sent the shell as a gift to the museun, A small air mail packet from the Solomon Islands yielded two specimens of Conus gloria-maris. Other parcels from the same source produced a total of five Conus gloria-maris, one Cypraea auriantum and a Casamariaevibex. The Islander hasn't been heard from since, evidently having retired on the income from the seven shelis. An American lady stopped at the miseum on returning from the Republic of Somalia, "I think that I have a specimen of Strombus oldi in my knapsack," she said. She had surmised correctly and later presented the shell to the Museum. Collectors Sometimes inquire where they can obtain a specimen of my "namesake." Actually there Conchologists of America Bulletin 9 Page 4 is no source of supply. The few known specimens of this species in this country have been brought back, or sent back, by Americans living in the Republic of Somalia. A few years ago, an American who had collected off Jiddah, South Arabia, brought in an assortment of shells. His Cypraea talpa proved to be a 77mm. specimen of Cypraea exusta, a rather rare species emdemic to the Red Sea. (Later he returned to ask, “are you sure that ien't Cypraea talpa?" ) Incidentally, one shell waste- land is the Persian Gulf, long ballyhooed as a home of rare shells. Records in the literature, lists from expeditions and reports of people who have Lived and collected there have produced very little in the way of shells and no "rarities", The Guif water is hot, fairly shallow and with a high inflow of silt and fresh water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. A medical missionary who spent a residence at a hospital in Bahrain considered it a sheller's disaster, Collectors residing there have stopped in with common shells such as Cypraea caurica and Conus pennaceus and stated that "Two of these have been found by our group in three years." Photographs of two shells from the Philippines proved to be of Cypraea leucodon, a legencary species known only from Broderip's type in the British Museum and a second specimen at Harvard University. The precise locality for the species had been unknown, South Africa hawing been a much repeated error. This specimen was later purchased by John E. DuPont. The second Corrie in the photographs, an unnamed species ex pisc., was obtained by Crawford Cate, described as Cypraea porteri (after the collector) and deposited in the California Academy of Sciences. Another Cypraesa, received in an assortment from Muscat, Arabia, proved to be exciting. It was a specimen of Cypraea teulerei, an Indian Ocean species, some- what similar to Cypraea ms from the lower Caribbean area, The one received was, to my knowledge, the first to be collected in the 20th century end with reliable local- ity data. All old existing specimens in collections were usually labelec as having come from "Mocha, Yemen" in the Red Sea. Later I was told to keep the shell as others had been found. Since then, the supply of Cypraea teulerei has caught up with demand. This ia also the cage with Tibia martinii and Strombus listeri. Many of the deep water Gulf of Mexico shelis that were formerly collector's items are now commonplace, So rare shells come and rarity goes -~--- or Sic transit gloria maris}| Tllustrations and Further Reading Cate, Crawford. A new Cowrie species from the Southern Philippines. Veliger January 1966, pp 200~-201,pl. 29. Emerson, William K. Strembus (Tricornis) oldi. Indo-Pacific Mollusca, Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 5 Apr. 30th 1965 pp 397-398 Emerson, W.K. and Anthony D'Attilio, Remarks on Triton ranzanii. American Museum Novitates, Oct. 10th 1962, pp 1-8 Emerson, W.K. and W. Old. Jr. New Records for Cypraea surinamensis. Navtilu’, July 1965, pp io Pile Je Hawaiian Shell News Cymatium renzanii. Dec 1963 p. 43 Jane 196 p. 83 Feb. 1971, pe7 Cypraea leucodon. Oct. 1965, p3 (Also photo National Geographic Magazine, Mar. 1969, pe 415) Cypraea porteri. Oct. 1965, Pode Strombus oldi. Oct 1965, p.53 Nov. 1966, p. 7. Conus gloria-maris. July 1966, pp. ,5,73 Sept. 1970, pp. 1, 3-7» Cypraea tevleri. June 196, p.23 Sept. 1969, pe i,lig July 1970, p. 3. Strombus listeri .Feb. Pg Pe gh. soy tak, pe 106 Bee five years ago Mr. Earl Reed, curator of the springfield (Massachusetts ) Museum of Science, spoke at the New York Shell Club on the subject of rare shells, Mr. Reed remarked upon the flexible meaning of the word rare as applied to shells. There are three "catch-all" categories as it applies to rare shells: First, biological, or actual, in number- relict species~ or those from inaccessible habitats, Second, economic, by virtue of the Law of Supply and Demand, command high prices because of popular appeal--- usually because of attractive appearance. Third, Artificial or Created, those which are surrounded by an aura of romanticism, as in the case of Sone Bore Stimulated by dealere in the Sales lists, which is usually a measure of the dealer's own enthusiasm. Residual as in the cage of shells once really rare in collections, which still are listed by the trade as rare long after the supply has risen to meet the demand. In the eye of the dealer ‘any shell is rare if in fact he hasn't seen it before. CONUS PYRODENS : The at Ticredibie Faced aa, the amen by Milton Werner _ Conus pyrodens, the "fire-tooth" cone, was named by the malacologist who was on the scene when divers brought up the first specimens in the western reaches of the Pacific Ocean, in 1902. The location was Nobi Kini Atoll, one of the links that make up Paramnesia, the palm-studded chain between Polynesia and Paronomasia. The scientist was Dr. Colus Stimsoni, chancellor of the Haywood University Marine Biotics Umbrella Group. Little did he suspect, early on a certain tropical morning, that he was soon to see a behavioral feature of a new species raised to high drama, culminating in miltiple mortality. Stimsoni owed his presence on that remote ring of sand to the understanding c Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 6 and generosity of his brother-in-law, Deere John. John was the famed inventor of agricultural machinery, known half the world around for such innovations as his steam~ driven compost heap. Knowing well the dreams and frustrations that warred beneath Stimsoni's academic languor, Jolin had given him checque blanche - and also, one might pun, chart blanche ~ for exploration into the mysteries of molluscan life. So Stimsoni had chosen this far archipelago, and on the historic day was conducting a faunal survey of the atoll's reef, employing local divers. Within minu- tes of their first descent, there flashed the opening scene in a fantasmagoria of disaster. One diver was seen by another to snatch his hand out of a crevice as if in dire pain, his entire frame then flailing into a frenzy infinitely more eloquent of anguish. As the observer described this seizure, it met have rivalled the skit- terings of a panicked scallep. Mercifully, the macabre underwater ballet was quickly ended by the soothing hand of death. The nature of the agsagsin remained a mystery only for minutes. A third diver, meanwhile, had collected a large Conus, thoughtlessly adding it to the amalgam in a cloth sack at his waist. He then returned to the beach, the bag now dangling against his leg. Suddenly, with a tortured scream, he pinwhealed into the air. Before touching the sand again, he executed a variety of muscular and vocal exertions that constricted the hearts of witnesses. The writhing wretch was’ airborne twice more before his shrieks congealed into a death rattle. While the appalled spectators were examining the contorted remains ~- and discovering the offending Conus - a second specimen was beached. This one was brought up safely in a bucket, but was left unattended as the diver joined the post mortem. It was the il] fertune of the resident beachcomber, as he approached this tableau, to pass the bucket. Long habit lead him to swoop for the bauble his eye had caught-- but habit had not prepared him to handie a living prize. Barely had he seized it when he convulsed into his rendition of death by internal flame. And his terrifying interpretation was not the last. His instant, involuntary response had been to fling away the shell. It flew toward another approaching onlocker, a tourist whom pitiless fate decreed would be none other than F.x. "Shanty" Schneckwerfer, star shortstop of the Punxsutawney, Pa. Groundhogs,. Taken unaware, he too reacted automatically, expertly snaring the wide throw and whirling for the relay to first base. Now Shanty was a rarity among shortstops - a southpaw. This, the cognoscenti said, was all that kept him out of the big leagues. Worse, it was what sent him to the Big Ballpark before his time. To throw to his left, he first had to pivot 90 degrees, consuming a tick of time that proved too long. As he released the shell he was seen to yank his hand back, and fling himself into a wrenching fandango that heavily outpointed the galvanic gym- nastics of the howling scavenger, Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 7 Destiny's crooked deck held one more Ace of Spades. Schneckwerfer's quick eye had located a "first baseman" - a chance bystander later identified ag an area representative of Paramnesia's Food and Eetel Administration. This portly worthy "caught" Shanty's last,perfect peg with his abdomen. The outraged mollusk, briefly buried in the cushiony facade, loosed another jolt of liquid lightning, and the FBA man joined in the calisthenics of terminal torment. And thus the kaleidoscopic calamity had at last played itself out. The score for pyrodens on the occasion of its discovery: two ekin divers, a remittance man, a sinistral shortstop, and a poi inspector. The much-tossed shell is a featured exhibit in the South Pacific Archibenthic Science Museum. Its placard, possibly written by a cricket fan, earnestly gives it credit for a triple play, 5-6-3. Through all of the acrobatic agonizing, Stimsoni had admirably retained his scientific detachment. His expedition log comments, for example: "Baseball player, uncommonly agile, achieved backflip with half twist." and, "Durations of four observ- able paroxyams, per watch and chain: 18, 11,20 and 1h seconds." A few weeks after the unflappable investigator's return to Hayward ( where he occupied the Jacques Costaud Chair of Dramatic Paramalacology ) he found himself beset by two vexations. One was the immediate necessity for choosing a name for his virulent new Conus, since his paper deacribing it was overdue at the print shop. He had intended to name it for his benefactor, but his sister, Mrs. John, had suddenly quit the tycoon's bed and board, leaving behind only a Dear John letter - literally, a Dear Deere letter ~- and the bulkier furniture. The second affliction wae a toothache that made comentration difficult. But tenacity brought success, "In the nick of time," Stimsoni wrote later, "inspir- ation struck. It occurred to me that every time I thought of this shell, I would think of tie fiery pain in that tooth. So I decided to be philosophical about it, and name the species in memory of the toothache." ar grange yet gree eteheny ea ne etn | ae ma 7 aia > fe de ne ae ae at 1 j ? a ie) j H f \ { Gtrot dprp less ty phe gee} i 4 . eeepc anpamanesss ethene t aT RR EE ee ; » praten ft *. H } ! | j a Aan ee Desewy ‘ f I } ' { i } — he “ ° “ OPEL ALTA AOI oe Conus pyrodens ( x ¥ ) | mm The first known SEM illustration of the racula tooth of Conus pyrodens Bulletin 5 Conchologists of America (he ‘Bookfinder This issue will have a slight departure from the normal bookfinder format, in that there will be reviews of two new books as well as the continuation of the microfiche article from last issue. The Collector's Encyclopedia of Shells, Edited by S. Peter Dance. 288pp. McGraw Hill Book Co., New York $19.95 S. Peter Dance's previous books have prepared us for this valuable and handsome volume. The title gives us the best clue to the intent of this Encyclop- edias it is a reference guide to the shell collector, world-wide in scope, organized in systematic order within an encyclopediac format. The word encyclopedia is perhaps a "loaded" one in the sense that one might expect that every species of mllusc is covered by this small volume. One of the major values of this book lies in the exclusive use of color photographs associated with the descriptions of virtually all of the approximately 2000 species covered. An identification key illustrated in color and an index by family, genus and species are both provided. Mr. Dance has also included some pop- ular names, but only those which are in relatively common or general use, and in do- ing so he has avoided, what is to me patronizing, use of directly translated versions of the binomial scientific names. A very rough guide to occurrance is given by indic- ating ~ common, frequent, uncommon and rare - which are not to be considered in any way a statistically probable analysis of the numbers to be found either in collections or in life. Geographical distribution is lumped within 16 well established zoogeograph- ical provinces. In the introduction Mr. Dance touches upon ‘systematics, biology, structure, collecting, preparation, identification and the history of shell collect- ing. Several errors are easy to find, the photographs are not all of a uniform quality and some captions are transposed. While this reduces the value of the book to a Slight degree, the overall, value is in no great degree diminished. Some of the names are incorrect, which does impair its usefulness to many collectors. On the whole Mr. Dance has put together a very useful book, a sort of Baedecker of the most popular families and species which come to the collector's attention, but, as with any other such guide book the value is in giving general dir- ections, not specific addresses. Conchologists of America Bulletin 9 Page 9 Mindful of the professional background of the author's husband I mst preface the following book review by pointing out that I, as editor and as reviewer, Frank J. Nelson alone have the responsibility for any actionable statements made in either the review or in my editorial which also appears in this issue. All of the comments are made reepecting the public peraona of Mrs. Hodgson and are not in any way to be construed as touching in any way upon her private persona. The Spell of the Shell, by Martha Keeling Hodgson, Hawthorne Books, Inc., New York $14.95 If a picture ia, as they say, worth a thousand words, the one on the dust- cover of this book is surely worth many thousends. Over the years, many attempts have been made, usually unsuccessfully, to explain the "lure", the "fascination", or to use the author's word, the "spell" of the seashell. And the soft muted colors and simplic- ity of this picture say it all, perhaps because of and not in spite of the gross imper= fection in the shell. Subtly, indefinably, without a word being said, the spell is cast. Then cne opens the book, and the spell is shattered. I have tried in vain to find one redeeming feature, a cingle justification for this book's ever having been written. But before concentrating on the book, a further word about the dust-cover,. At first glance, it appears that either this is a very unusual Strombus gigas or the picture is reversed. But closer examination reveals that what appears to be a broken lip is evidently a hole in the back of the shell, with the lip facing away from the camera. Except for Mrs. Hodgson's arrogant comments on the "repulsive" and "stupe- fyingly hideous" shell pictures that she saw in Florida, I wouldn't otherwise comment too harshly on hers. I do not, myself, care for shell pictures or shell art, and I don't find hers any better or any worse than mort. But I recognise this as a subject- ive expression of personal taste, and it is most fortunate for irs. Hodgson that not everyons shares my tastes. I would like to think that not everyone shares hers. But wether these pictures are sold at Upper Grosvenor Gallery or at a flea-market on the streets of New York, their value is not enhanced or diminished. Nor does the fact that many, if not mst, of Mrs. Hodgson's customers are members of the titled gentry or or the upper social and economic strata attest to their worth. Good taste does not neces- sarily go hand in hand with position and/or wealth, a fact well borne out by Mrs. Hodgson tasteless and ill-mannered remarks about the shell art of Florida, As to the book in general, it is basically a travelogue, and since I havn't had the good fortune to visit most of these places, I can't comment on her descriptions of them. I can only hope that her powers of observations on people, countries, and Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 10 cultures is more accurate than her observations on shelis. The book is replete with inaccuracies, misinformation, misconceptions, half-truths and the perpetuation of myths, not to mention a redundancy or two. } For example, on page 55, Mrs Hodgson reports the finding of a cone that was believed at first to be " the common lettered variety ( Conus litteratus) ", but which later was found to have " Two additional rows of brown spots, turning it into a collect- or's item, the Conus capitansus. " I wish that I understood Mrs. Hodgson's criteria for a " collector's item" as it applies to shells. Perhaps I've been wrong in assuming that any shell, however humble and common it may be, is potentially a collector's item. But if the implication is that C. capitaneus is a much morevaluable shell, then Mrs. Hodgson has much to learn indeed. Although C. capitaneus and C. litteratus are about equal in rarity and price (both are common and low-priced), the similarity ends there. They Share no resemblance whatsoever, and I fail to see how anyone could even momentarily confuse them. On pages 36 and 37, there is an illustration, purportedly, of a growth series of Murex radix. It takes but a glance to see that the six shelis are not all M. radix. And page 61 describes the finding of a Coms virgo, which, when'"scraped clean is a tender pink". I have not had the good fortune to own, or even see, a pink C. virgo, and diligent searching has not turned up a single book that describes it as being pink. That would be a most interesting and desirable variety. Page 61 also relates one of the author's most astonishing finds, Nerita peloronta in Fijil Her humility and restraint in reporting this important fact is aston- ishing. Perhaps she didn't realize that she would electrify the malacological world by extending the range of this common Caribbean mollusk by many thousands of miles, across a@ land mass and an entire ocean. And 80 on, ad nauseum. The purpose of this review “s not to engage in nit-picking. Any shell book, however authoritative and excellent it may be, is bound to contein a few errors. The purpose is, however,to assist the reader in selecting books which will have value in his library. With great modesty and appropriate hamility, Mra. Hodgson disclaims any qual- ification as either a conchologist or a malacologist and describes at great length her rather recent "collision" with the mollusk. But from this point on, she casts modesty to the winds and proceeds, with a heavy-handed pseudo-expertise, to demolish her pre- vious disclaimer, The outbreak of hostilities between Mrs. Hodgson and the mollusk appears to have occurred about the time that she was first confronted with her, then, future hus- band's shell collection. Patrick Hodgson's collection is said to be " a near perfect collection of shells from the beaches of West Florida", assembled painstakingly over the years during a series of visits to the area. One wonders why, then, this book Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 1] shows no evidence of the application of a restraining or guiding hand. Can it be that Mrs. Hodgson is one of those gung-ho, aggreseive, "capable" women who tolerates no suggestion or interference from any one, but rather charges ahead with the supreme and Godegiven knowledge that she cannot be wrong? Going beyond the numerous breaches of fact, in a narrative type book such as this, we must also comment on style. Mrs. Hodgsen writes in a stilted and pompous man sprinkling her prose with much ostentatious name-dropping. If a person's title or pos- ition is relevant to the point being made, then he or she should be so identified in the text. If the title or position is not pertinent, then accenting it by footnoting _ ds offensive and pretentious. Few people, apart from the author's relatives and close friends, give a tinker 's dam whether or not Mra. Hodgson is on close enough terms with Count and Countess So-and-So to call them Cuddles and Poopsey. A gratuitous bit of gossip (since it could only refer to one of several people) is offered in the rather lengthy reporting of a conversation between Mrs. Hodgson and the Queen Mother (N.B. no first name or pet name here), a conversation which would, in all likelihood, have gone unreported had it taken place with the kitchen maid. Mrs. Hodgson sadly reports that, in all probability, her collecting days are about at an end, and that, with the passing years, bending has become somewhat difficult. One can only doubt that she ever found it easy. - a ne nn (iB “fo conclude the listing of Microfiche reprints of the Molluscan clasics that was begun in the last issue, the following Monographs are available: MONOGRAPHS Adams, H. and A. Adams. *he genera of recent mollusca: arranged according to their organization. London (1853-) 1858. MOGs eects ar ody Ol. (aceOky Baker, *.¥%. The mollusca of the Chicago area. Pt. 1: The Pelecypoda (Chicago Acad. sCis, Nat. Hist. Surveys. Bull nr 3 pt VetCoG. i 30DDee 7 Dlses..| map.)., 2257/2, Sir 22 (8.24) Barnard, k.eH. Contributions to the knowledge of South African marine mollusca. Ft a Gastropoda, Prosobranchiata, Toxozlossa. (Annals of the “outh Africen Museum. Ve. 44 1958 ptel, OP's 7i-10S en) Pdelnn ebeife Sir 9 (337) Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 12 Bartsch, FP. Report on the Turton Collection of South African marine mollusks. (U.Svglate Muss, (biddie. neweo) eis a. 305 pp, 54 plse) 2-392/2 Sfr 20 (7-49) Bolton, J.“. Museum Boltenianuum. Pars secunda coutinens Conchylia (P.F. Roeding, id.) Preface by A.A.H. Lichtenstein (Reprint of the 1798 edition, with an Introductory note by C.D. Sherborn and 4.2. Sykes).(London, °1906) VIII, 199 pp. 2252/2 Sfr 1h (502k) Bowerbunk, Jeo. Observations on the structure of the shells of molluscous ani conchiferous animals,Londion, 1844 34pp., 5 pls (Trans. Microscop., Soc. V1). Z-439/2 Sir 7 (2.62) Broderip, Wad. Species Conchyliorun, or‘ concise original descrip- tions and observations London, LOSULN tite D eaneiane il eo Sir meh. 12) Carpenter, P.P. Lectures on mollusca. Prepared for the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, 18661 149 pp. (Aun. Pept. Smithsonian Institution. 1661) 4-4607/2 Sfr 11 (4.12) Carpenter, W.B. Report on the microscopic structure of shells. London, 1845. 2hpp. 20 pl. (Brit. Assco. Rept. 16h4 (1845) Z-406/2 OLY 2 Ge) Catlow, A. and Reeve, L.A. The conchologists nomenclature. London, 1645. VIII, 326pp Z2-468/2 Sfr 16 (5.99) Challenger, HMS "Challenger" Expedition, London, (1878-1883) 20 pts. | Mollusea By R.b. Wwatsou (vourn. Linn. Soc. London, Loolosy V 1h=17) %-852/2 Sfr 18 (6.74) Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 13 Chenu sie: Lecons éfemehtaives d'thistorie naturelle, comprenant un apercu sur toute la zoology et un traite de conchy- liolozie Paris 1847 LXXXVII, 283pp, 12 pls. 2-469/2 ert ey Ost Chenu, J.C. Manuel de couchyliologie et de paleontologigque. Paris 1859-1862 2 vols. 2-470/2 Sfr 53 (19.85) Conrad, T.A. Fossil shells of the Tertiary formations of North America. "epublication Ed. with an introduction by W.H. Dall. Philadelphia, 1693 136 pp., 49 pl. Z-478/2 Str th (5.24) Conrad, T.A. New fresh water shells of the United States, Phila- delphia, 1834., 76pp. 9 plas #2~h77/2" Sto (3.37) Dall, WeH. A monograph of the mollusca fauna of the Orthaulax pugnax zone of the Oligocene of Tampa, Fla. (United States National Museum Bulletin no. 90 1915.XV 173 pp., 26 pls.) Z-489/2 Sfr 14 (5.24) Dall, \.H. And Bartsch, P.. A monozraph of ijest American Pyramidellid Mollusks (United Gtates National Museum, Bulletin no. 66, 1909, XII, 258 pp., 30 pls.) 4+165/2 Sfr._ 16 (5.99) Dall, WeH. and Simpson, C.T. The Mollusca of Puerto Rico. (Bull. of the U.S. Fish Comm. 1900 V., 20pp., 351452, pls 53-58). Z2-165/2 Sfr 16 (5.99) Dillwyn, Lei. A descriptive catalosue of recent Shells. Lonion, 1817. 2 vols. XII, 1092 (29) pp. 2496/2 Sfr 46 (17.23) Forbes, B and S.C.T. Hanley. A history of British Mollusca and their Shells. London (1848-) 1853. 4 Vols. Z2-532/2 Page 14 Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 g — esaninenisten: H.H. Land ani Freshwater mollusca of India: London, 1882-1920. 3 vols. text, 3 vols. pls. Z-540/2 Sfr 66 (24.72) uosse, P.H, Wwatural History. Mollusca. London 1854 VIII 328 pp. Z2-541/2 Sfr 16 (5.99) Gould, A.A. Otia Concholo,tica: lescriptions of shells and mollusks, from 1839-1862. Loston, 1862 256pp. 4-542/2 Sfr 1h (5.2h) Gray, MoE. Figures of molluscous animals, selected from various authors. London. (1842-) 1857 (1859) 5 vols. pn 5542/2 Sfr 37 (13.86) | ere | Haldeman, S.S. ™ monograph of the Limniades an other fresh water univalve shells of North America. Philadelphia 1840, 1842, 1844, (1849) pt. 1-8. 2-561/2 Sfr 16 (5.99) Hanley, S. Ipsa Linnaei Conchylia Tondon 1855. 556 pp. 5 pls. Z=-564/2 Sfr 24 (8.99) Harris, G.D. and al van Winkle. New or otherwise interesting tertiaury molluscan Species from the east coast of America. + (Bue Kmerice ny Paleontolosy, Cornell Univ. 1919, V.8 ure 33, 32 pp., 3 pls) Z2-568/2 Sfr 7 (2.62) Hidalzo, J.G. Obras Malacolo,;icas. Parte I, Estudios préelimninarers la fauna malacolojsica de las I Slas Pilipinas. (Mem. teal. Ac. de Ciensias, Medrid. Ve1h. 1690-1901. IX. 632pp., 31 pls. 233 ills.) 2-578/2 Sfr 46 (17.23) Jeffreys, J.G.. British Conchology, or an account of the mollusca which now inhabit the British Isles and the surrounding seas. London, 1862-1869 5 vols. Z~587/2 peas Nay fA Se Bi Jeffreys, J.G..0n the mollusca procured during the "Liz htning” and "Porcupine" expeditions. Loudon, 1878-1885. 9pts. (Proc. _ 4008. Socl. Loniton, 1878-1885). 2-588/2 Sfr 18 (6.74) Conchologists of America Bulletin: 5 Page 15 Keep, J. West American Shells. San FPdiei tty 190k. 360 ppe 1 ple Z2-595/2 Sfr 18 (6674) Kiener, L.C. Species general et iconographie des co.uilles vivantes, comprenant la collection du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Paris, (1834-) 1873-1880 11 vols. Z-597/2 Sfr 191 (71.53) Kobelt, W. Illustrirtes Conchylienbuch Nurnberg, 1880-1681 6217/2 Sfr 9.(3.37) Lamarck, J.8.A.P.M. de,. Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertebres Ed 1. Paris 1815-1822. 7 vols. Z2-319/2 Sfr 145 (54.30) Lea, H.C. Catalogue o: the tertiary Testacea of the United states, Philadelphia. (1843)-1646 48 pp., 4 pls. (Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., New Series, V, IX) Z-609/2 Sfr 9 (3.37) innate. C. Systema Naturae. Ed 13, aucta, reformata, cura J.Fe. | Gmelin. Lipsiae, 1788-1793. 3 vols. 440/2 Sfr 246 (92.13) Martini, F.H.\.. and J.H. Chemnitz. Systematisches Conchvlien-Cabinet. New herausgegebei und vervollstandigt von H.C. Kuster. Nurnberg 1637-1920 2165/2 Sfr 1360 (516.81) : areal: The Linneau system of Coucholozy, describing the orders, genera and species of shells. London 1823 XV, 207pp.,, 37 pls. 5606/2 Sfr 16 (5.99) Perry, G. Conchology, or the natural history of shells: containing a new arrangement of the genera and species. Loudon, 1811 61 pls with descriptive letterpress. Z2~705/2 Sfr 20 (7.49) Pfeiffer, L.G.C. and S. Clessin, Womenclator Heliceorum viveutium. Cassellis, (1878-) 1881. 617 pp. Z-719/2 Sfr 66 (24.72) Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 16 Philippi, .A. aAbbildungen und Beschreibungen ee, a oder wenig bekannter Conchylien. Cassel (1842-) 1845-1851. 3 vols. 2166/2 Sfr 66 (24.72) Philippi, %.4. Handbuch der Conchylioloie und Malacozoologie. Halle 1853 XX, 547 pp. 2502/2 Sfr 22 (8.24) Rafinesque-Schmaltz, C.S. *he complete writings of C.S. Rafinesque on recent ani fossil conchology. Ed. by lieu. Biuney and Geu. Tryon. New York, 1864 96, 7pp., 3 pls. 2-735/2 Sfr, 9..(3237) Rafines. ue-Schmaltz, C.S. Monograpnie des couuilles bivalves ~ fluviatiles le la riviere Ohio. (Ann. Gen. Sci. Phys., 1820. V5 pp 287-322, 3 nls.) Z—-panye it ese) Reeve, L.A. Concholo sia Systematica, or complete system of Conchology Loudon, 1641-1542 2 vols. 300 pls. 2167/2 Sfr 53 (19.85) Reeve, L.A. Blements of Concholoy. London, (1846-) 1860 2 vols. Z-7hh/2 Sir 27 (10.11) Say, T. American concholo-y, or descriptions of the shells of ° horth America. New Harmouy, tndiana. 1630-1834. 7 pts _ (258)pp., 68 pls. 2-767/2 Sfr 18 (6.74) Snith, S. On the mollusca of Peconic ani Gariiner's Bays, Long Island, ‘ew York. (Ann. Nat. Hist. of Wew York, 1862. V 7epp 147-168. 2 pls.) 2-794/2 Sfr 7 (2.62) Sowerby, Geb. #& cataloue of the shells contained in the collection | of the lite Earl of Tankerville. London 1825, VII, 92 | XXXIV pp. 9 pls. Z2-796/2 Sfr 14 (562k) ‘Sowerby, Gob. The Vonchological Illustrations. London (1832-) 1844, IV 116 pp. 200 pls. 2-797/2 Sfr 24 (5.99) Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page 17 Sowerby, G.B. A concholo,ical ead anion gos Le Ee Ets ac te a oj pe 2 tab. 24 pls. Z2-798/2 Sfr 16 (5.99) ae Sowerby, GB. Illustrated Index of british Shells. London, 1659. XV pp. 24 pls. Z-800/2 Sfr 14% (5.24) Sowerby, U.f. Marine Shells of South africa. Loudon 1092 IV, &9 pp, 5 pls. 4-801/2 Sfr 13 (4.87) Sowerby, +.B. Popular British Concholoyy. London 1854 XII 394 pp. 20 pls. 2-799/2 Sfr 14 (5.24) Sowerby, Gk. Thesaurus Conchyliorun, or fissures and descriptions of recent shells. Londou. (1842-) 1847-1887 5 vols. 2505/2 By Sines palo. 77) Stearns, F. A list of mollusca and other forms of marine life collected in 1889-90, in Japan. Detroit 1891. 19 (1) pp., 1 pl. Z-815/2 Sfr 7 (2.62) 7 Stimpson, WwW. Shells of New England. Boston 1851 56(1) pp. 2 pls. Z-818/2 Sfr 9 (3.37) Swaiusou, WwW. “xotic conchology. Id. 2. (S.Hanley, Rd.) London, 1641. 39ppe»w 45, pls. 2506/2i5ir th” (5.24) Swaluson, w, A treatise on malacolo-‘y; or the natural classifi- cation of shells ail sheil fish, London 1340, VIII, L419 ppe 2-825/2 Sfr 18 (6.74) Terver, AP. Catalozue des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles, observes dans les possessions Francaises au nord de}! Afrique. Paris, Lyou, 1639 39 ppe, 4 pls. 2-832/2 Sfr 7 (2.62) Theobald, W, Catalogue of the lan! and freshwater shells of Brigish India. Calcutta, 1876. II, 65ppe 2-295/2 Sfr 11 (4.11) NDADY FIELD MUSEUM LIBRA Conchologists of America Bulletin 9 ; Page 18 Tryon, Gewe A monograph of the terrestrial mollusca inhabiting the United States. Philadelphia. 1866 (Am. Journ. of Conch. V 2. 8Opp., 27 pls.) 2170/2 Sfr 11 (4-11) Tryon, Ge. Structural and systematic concholozy; an introduction to the study of the mollusca. Philadelphia. 1862-1884. 3 vols. 2-840/2 Sfr. 61 (22.84) ) Whitfield, ®.P. Mollusca ani Crustacea of the miocene formations of hew Jersey. (mouographs Geol. Survey. U.©., Washington, 1394. Vol 2h; 495pp., 5 piss) sabe serie (Ogi Wollastou, T.V. Testacea Atlantica; or the land ant evestwatan ‘ ’ shells of the Azores, Madeiras, Salvazes, Canaries, Cape Verdes, en Sache Helena, London 1878, XI, 588 pp. 2-877/2 Sfr 27 (10.11) Wood, uw. General coucholoxy, or a description of shells arranged according to the Linnean System. Loudon 1835 DAL; ‘7, IV, 2h6pp. 60 pls. 4880/2 Sfr 24 (S18) Woods, ¥.%. Teuison - The Hiolluscan Fauna of Tasmania. (Journ. ROye Soc. New South Wales, Sydney, 1678. V, 12, 28bp.) o+883/2 Sfr 7° (2.62) wyman, ¥. Fresh-water shell mounds of the vt. vohns "iver, Florida (Mem. Peabody Ac. Sci., Sdlem, 1875 V1Nr. 4} VIII, (5 + 9h pps, Y pls., 1 map.) Z24888/2 Sfr 13 (4.87) Note in the above list the symbol /2 means that the size of the Microfiche plate is 9 em x 12 ems. b k f Secretary/ Treasurer 7 Editor Kathleen Daniels Frank J. Nelson 121 Stephens Lane 95-24 110th Street Verona, Ps. 15147 Richmond Hill, N.Y. 11419 CONTENTS Speaking Out F, Nelson Bee A Foul Story R, Aronson P 3 A Field Trip to the Keys M, Hughes P 4 Information, Please WmrabniOld, Jr. P 6 American Museum "Mollusks and Mankind'' aa M,. Werner z= 10 Self Guided Field Trip em ATR TTY rs ||) W. Redford Pll tt ‘A ' nal \ \/ 1 1 \\ \ Map to locate Rice's Fossil Pits yi \ Leal \\| P 12 Exoskeletons in the Family | Closet | M, Werner 3 Bye Law/ Constitution Vote (psue. e 92 BY! “ | P14 C.O.A, Convention 1975 Yo VOY ® _, D, Janowsky P15 Minutes of the Business Meeting |,.,cr\\\\ LIBRAN! =D, Janowsky P 16 c\ELD MUSEU C,O,A, Treasurers Report FIL D, Janowsky rhe The Bookfinder F, & L. Nelson boo The 1975 Ccavention Program F, Nelson Pee This is a pretty full issue, and it's the first one typed on our new machine, which should reproduce better than the old one did, You'll notice though that the letter ''M"' on certain of the pages seemingly jumps all over the lines, that has been repaired at some considerable loss of time and the machine can now produce quite good looking copy, The new Typewriter is an IBM Executive model and has ~more gadgetry than my car, which accounts for the less than professional look of much of the copy, I'11 improve with time and will hope to have better looking work with it in future issues, Notice that with this Issue we're using a newly designed masthead, which features a drawing by Gary Magnotte with typography by me, Mike Werner is back with a refreshingly different view of Taxonomy, and Bill,Old has some advice on the type of questions that one should ask of Curators, I've also included something which I'm hoping can become a regular feature, a self guided Field Trip map and some background information concerning trips that can be undertaken in small groups or entirely alone, if you have a favorite shelling or fossiling place please send ~e some notes about it for inclusion in this column. Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page 2 Speaking out Frank J. Nelson The Convention is over - nearly two months ago- and here I am writing about it, while it seems remarkably fresh in my mind, Perhaps due to one or more ingredients ( secret, of course) of Garbage Can Punch is responsible, but more likely it was the fun that all of us had there, One of our members who attended wrote the following which appeared in the Long Island Shell Club News for »October 1975: .« CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA CONVENTION by wiartin Lerner I recently had the good fortune to attend the Fourth Annual Conven- tion of the Conchologists of America at Virginia Beach, Virginia, The COA is the only national organization devoted exclusively to shell collectors, While the American Malacological Union (AU) and the Western Society of Malacologists (WSM) are technical organizations catering to the professional malacologist and the more advanced conchologist, the COA deals with the collector, be he expert or amateur, Like the other organizations, the COA also had presentations at the meetings. However, these presentations dealt with topics close to the heart of the average shell collector, There were slide presentations dealing with shell collect. ing trips and with different shell families, The entire emphasis is upon the shell collector, The social camaraderie was wonderful to see and it was interesting to meet people whom I had only corresponded with previously such as Kirk Anders, Tom Rice, and Richard Kurtz, There were members present from all parts of the country including California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, and of course New York. As the COA is the only national organization dealing with shell col- lectors it is certainly worth joining, The membership fee is only $3.00 per year, which is a small price to pay for the newsletter which is published periodically through out the year, And of course, if you get the opportunity to attend a convention by all means do so ..... it is a wonderful experience, Honestly the only thing that I can add to Marty's short state ent is Hear ,..Hear! Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page 3 A Foul Story, By Robert B, Aronson from Machine Design, July 24th 1975 Those that go down to the sea in ships have always carried with them the curse of an ugly little animal - a crustacean of the subgroup cirri- pedia « the comMon barnacle, This Marine beast has a rather si™Mple life style, Heanchors hi™Mself fo anobject and stays there, quietly living out his days grabbing any food that happens to float his way. The proble™ is that when a faMily of barnacles decides to «all a ship's hull a ho™Me it can be quitea drag, In the days of wooden ships, the hulls. had to be pulled labor-~ {ously ashore or careened so that barnacles could be chipped off by hand, Later, copper plating onthe hull helped some, In ™More recent times, hull paints have been developed that contain barnacle poisons (arsenic, Mercury,tin). They retard Marine growth, but are not totally successful, Today Most ships need a cleaning and repainting at least once every two years. Before the oil crisis, ship owners coubd absorb the fuel losses within this two-year cycle, Increased fuel bills due to fouling typically ranged from 1% after 9 Months to 5% at 2 years, With the fuel bill for a Modern tanker now running about $3 Milliona year, other cleaning Methods are being investi gated, So far, the Most successful device is the "ScaMp", a robot that rolls along the ship's hull and scrubs off unwanted growth, Built by Butterworth Systems, Inc, , an Exxon coMpany, scaMp will clean your tanker in about 16 hours for about $5,500, A coMpanv called Product DevelopMent Services Inc,, Fairfield, Conn.,has done a feasibility study on a design that reportedly would be More eff ici -~ ent than Sca™Mp, and is currently looking for backers, A slightly more dynamic idea is Sea Mesh , a system in whicha mesh of plasticecovered explosive cord is floated around a ship, Theoretically, when the cord is detonated, the concussion knocks the barnacles off the hull, In practice, there have been a few bugs in the barnacle blaster, A fter one test, according to a report in Business Week, “the blast had not only blown off barnacles, but had also cracked toilets on the ship, shattered light bulbs, and Moved some new bulkheads ..,,"' Undaunted by this slight Miscalculation, the U.S, Navy is continuing to test a Sea Mesh, apparently with some success, Because none of these systems seems entirely satisfactory, however, and since there is no end in sight for fuel-price increases, anyone who has been hoarding an idea for a better barnacle trap should Make his Move now, Conchologists of America Bulletin ¢ Page Pa elGigel tat, Lor eer tee ys by Mari Hughes | On June 20 and 21, the Palm Beach County Shell Club and the Broward County Shell Club members met for an evening shelling trip and social getetogether in Marathon, The weather was perfect, with spurts of rain, The moon was full and we enjoyed watching it rise and also enjoyed beautiful sunset. The tide was low and the water clear, On the trip we stopped in the woods on Key Largo and picked Liguus the Florida tree snail. A short shower had them out walking. Since our last trip, there are new miles of telephone poles, fewer trees, much new building of home sites, camp grounds and canals, We also collected branches from the Lisa Loma and Mahogany trees to take homes, where we then planted them on trees in our outdoor room, Next we stopped at Tom's Harbor bridge and collected Barbados Keyhole limpets on the rocks at high tide. After checking into a motel we walked to the water onthe Atlantic side for Chiton tuberculatus. I had two guests from Massachusetts who were new to this area - Helen Chebator and Roland Gaudet, It's a great satisfaction to guide enthusiastic new shellers and observe their first finds, At the Palms Motel we met Mr, and Mrs, Slattery, the new managers, They and the new owner hosted a lovely party for us all. Most guests stayed at the Palms, some next-door at the Ranch, and some camped, Of the many children involved, it was just great to see their knowledge- ability in identifying their finds, The main trip for our group consisted of driving to Key West and boating toa reef about eight miles out, There were 22 of us in four boats --- one owned by Dr, Marvin Glickstein, our field trip chairman, and three rentals, The fee was $ 75.00 for four hours, There were no ladders nor any way to get in or out easil- ly So, we jumped in, and had to look up and disturb a busy man to get back in when we had to even blow our noses, This hurts the ego, so it would have been worth the effort to arrange for fuller equipment. One member got two Strombus gigas and one Cassis madagascarensis and so far as I know these were the only large shells collected. My previous collecting of all large shells in the Keys was from turtle grass in the shallows, Some of us took coral = up to five pounds allowed - for home tanks. On this trip I got only small shells but was very happy with Cyphoma gibbosum, which live about five days in our tank a Cypraea cinerea, a very fat ( ?) Astraea phoebia, two Calliostoma euglyptum, four Conus regius, a Cypraecassis testiculus, some Clamys sentis, anda Murex, Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page : My l2-year old niece, Connie Wysocki from Massachusetts on her first trip to the Keys, found ten adult tulips and a few whelks, At night on the low tide, nine of us went out turning rocks for Cypraea and we got 12, small in size but adult. Among the many fellow-collectors I enjoyed meeting on this excursion was Margaret Teskey, On the way home I got a lovely blue and white nudibranch and he seems happy feeding on brine shrimp. ' The "sound of silence" under water was, as usual, just too beautiful to describe, The night shelling was eerie with only the sound of lapping waves and snapping shrimp, All in all it was a grand jaunt and everyone enjoyed it! DEPT, OF MOLLUSKS Museum of Comparitive Zoology Harvard University Cambridge, Mass, 02138 JOHNSONIA VOLUME II REPRINTED AT LAST! A facsimile reprint of the entire volume two of Johnsonia is now available, Bound in soft cover, 8 1/2'"'by il", $ 25,00 plus $.0.50 for postage and handling. Send check or money order in U.S, Currency using the order form below, Make check or Money order payable to: Dept. of Mollusks, This will be in the same style as the Volume one reprint, Ee NL ET ete gare a sie a6 S16'e ait ais dale «tek 4 ofa hi aad £LO8it 6 He CALAN OLe OTe a OOS & ADDRESS CHOC SCESHSHCHSHSEHEKSHSHSHSHSFHSHEEHSKHHOHEHHLHSKEHHSHCSHSHEHHSSESHEHHHEH8HHS CILy CeeeSsoeaeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeaeeevneeeeeaeeseoee Hoes oeeHeeoaeogae ee ee STATE @eseeoeoeoeovoevoeaeseeeeseeeeeaeeeeeeesd ZIP @e@eaeaneasaeeeeeenvete Check here if you wish subscription information on JOHNSONIA or on | OCCASINOAL PAPERS ON MOLLUSKS, Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page Information, Please by William E, Old, The following little dramas are true, Only the names have been deleted to protect the innocent ( 7) » ‘Iam going to Sanibel, Who will buy the shells I find?" tt W hat ou > ''l read that rare shells could be found on Sanibel, and I'm on my way!'' sk ' My daughter has a pet clam, We know they should be kept in salt water, so we salted it, Now, what do we feed it?" ' You can't. Clams are ‘suspension feeders! and ..secoeee'' “Suspension? Oh, Isee, I'll hanga piece of tender liver for it to snap at! Bye!'' "Oh hell," PM ''I want to find out what this shell is worth," ‘This isn'ta shell, It's ivory carved in the shape ofa clam, It's called a netsuke ,"' I don't want to dispute you, but my uncle said it was a shell, and he should know ,"' . * ''My friend's husband is going to the Pacific, Tell me, what rare shells can he bring his wife ?'' oe ‘What is the book with all the shells in it?" "It doesn't exist," ae ( After deep thought) ' Ohl Youare writing it!" "I didn't say that," 1 Oh," * ''My grandfather was a whaling captain in the 19th Century, and he was ship- wrecked in the Pacific, He collected shells until he was rescued, Now I want to sell the shells, Here are photos, what are the shells worth?'' "Not much, I'm afraid, Also, all of the shells in these pictures ars from Florida and the Caribbean,"' 2 ' We're going to the Great Barrier Reef to make a complete collection of Volutes. Any suggestions ?'' 'What is your background? Have you ever shelled before ?"' ( Smugly ) " We havea Volute Book," ' It just might not be as easyas you think, Have you considered how many Australians have lived and collected there all of their lives and havn't found 'all' the Voiutes ?"' , ‘We never thought of that. We thought all you had to do was to go there and pick 'em up.'! Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page. 7 a '"' My grandfather was a sea captain from a whaling port in Florida in 1820," ' That's interesting." Wisn'tit2" ' No, your statement that there was a whaling port in Florida in 1820. That was a year after we acquired Florida from Spain," | ' Well, all I know is that's the way the story is told in the family,' S And jseseet " He was shipwrecked in the Pacific, and collected shells ...."' " That sounds familiar," " What Qu * '" My house is so full of shells. I want to sell some of them, Who will buy them ?'' " What kind of shells are they?" " Rare Shells" " Name some," " Oh I couldn't do that. I don't know any names," ' Why do you think that they are rare?" ' They must be!"' * '' Do you send photographers out to take movies? I have two snails that are reproducing, and it's so interesting. How long does it take for the eggs to hatch?" "What kind of snails are they?" '' Brown ones I found near the trail in the Alps." " That could cover a lot of species, since many land snails are brown in color," '' They might not be spawning afterall, WhenlI feed them bananas, the streamers are light in color, and when! feed them carrots the deposits are dark," * ' IT have two large seashells in which I display flowers, Lately the shells have started to leak. Where canI get them repaired?" ' There isn't anyone who does that," " Don't you have a list?" se ' These shells have no value. You don't have any data with them ,"' "Data? What's that?" ( Explanation follows ) '' Well! You should know that your self!" * "T have some shells that have faded, What is the liquid that will restore them to their original color?" ' There isn't one," "Oh, you know, But yau won't tell me,'' Keo chowaist’ Oo: America Bulletin Page 8 9g a 1a. Jot the 'great white-toothed cowry,' It said that there were only tie 2 OF ltlim known, Well, I have 13 of them," “identified the shells?" : -.c one, But I hope they are valuable. Frankly, I need the money." 17 % 'My preat grandfather was a sea captain," “That sounds famillfar,'' ‘What? Well, we have some shells that he collected about the year 1820, hand, do you have any idea what they would be worth?" ''Propa>ly nothing. By now they would be faded, and chipped from gener- ions Giphandtling suse." "Ch, they look pretty good to me," rs 2 you Want to buy a coral reef?" . cora) reef? Where is it?" “oat hers in front of me," "bow big is it?" «uct sixteen inches high, I bought it and don't want it anymore," ‘' . {raid that I'm not interested in coral," ‘Ju cugnt th buy it. I want to sell it,'' * , / >. Quent + shell back from Key West, and now it smells, What is the Osta th ( .1i1 dis: oive the meat and take away the odor ?'' " doa't .. occur to you that any solution that strong would affect the shell?" No, f 1e2ver thought of that’. * iz tj.sa sc.e clams on the beach and want to know how to keep them alive," " That's very difficult, -You really need an open circuit aquarium set up, and @yv ure flitvacion cecders|'' ' Whats all oi that mean?" ( Explanation follows ) ( Saspiciously) "They weren't doing all that you say when we found them on cue beach, tlow did they feed there?" * 4 % "My facher was a pilot in the Pacific during World War II," ''Was he a captain by any chance ?"! "Why, yes. How did you know?" '"Tust guessed, This sounds like a new blade for an old saw," "At any rate, he was downed over an uninhabited island in the Fiji group. “ie Coluected golden cowries until he was rescued," "I'd like to.see them," “Oh, no, ie never shows them to anyone." * Page 9 Conchologists of America Bulletin ¢ 9g A few corollaries may be formed from the preceding: . a There ig a magic solution for cleaning and/or restoring shells, Clams are difficult to maintain in the home, Whaling and Sailing ships were woefully undermanned, elieved that the value of shells increases with age, 1820 was a good year for shells. Rare shells are where you find them, Just as IT always thought,a curator's life ig just one round of adventures, Separated by dopey questions ; Ed, PHD <5 CMS ADMD SOE AN A RTH RO OLD D> ERED EGE ONES COGN 1) GID NED Application for membership in The American Malacological Union, Ine. | Make check for type of membership desired payable to AMU ‘Inc. and send to Mrs. Hollis Boone, Recording Secretary, 3706 Rice Boulevard, “Houston, Texas 77005 Note. The AMU is a non profit, educational organization eo that dues and contributions dre Cax deductable. Indicate type of membership desired: $7.00 / ] Additional Family Member per YOGF georwatry $l.00u0f 37 Regular Member per year Corresponding Member per year $8.50 {J eta ten of Initiation fee $1.50 / ] Tete Reins tatement $1.50 Ley Senate nent ean ine oe a, Contributions $ Total enclosed: $ Na me eo aaa zip code: Taper a sd aces atc Area of Special Saibiiictrommr: ae soe snes nse cane totes Conchologists of America Bulletin § Page |» AMERICAN MUSEUM OPENS "MOLLUSKS AND MANKIND' EXHIBIT A new, permanent exhibit unveiled by the American Museum of Natural History in mid-Dacember is by far the most sophisticated presentation on mollusks ever seen in the New York City institution, The product of three year's work, it is described by Dr, William K, Emerson, the malacologist who super- vised the creation of '"Mollusks and Mankind", as an attempt to reveal the inter- relationships between his discipline and those of archeology and ethnology. Dr, Emerson is a curator in the Museum's Department of Fossil and Living Invert. ebrates, | The exhibit is further described as the only one of its kind in the country, Occupying a small hall of its own, "Mollusks and Mankind" depicts the ways in which the mollusk has made its imprint on the arts, the sciences, religious observance, and many humbler aspects of daily life. The elements making up the series of displays include shells, models of shells and anatomic structures, photographs, diagrams, two continuously running motion pictures - one a read-out generated by an analog computer ~-a slide show, anda erect variety of artifacts and art objects, The exhibit assumes no familiarity between the museum visitor and the mollusk, For those who 'never knew where shells came from''the first stopper in the hall is a free standing case that asks and answers the question, 'What is a mollusk?" Part of the answer is a portrayal, using shells and models, of the seven classes, In the same case is offered the only out-and-out obeisance to oohe andeah, Under the heading 'Snaile, Snails, Snails''is an imaginative display ofa few dozen beauties, Getting back to business, adjacent wall cases take up molluscan biology, in aspects ranging from life cycles and anatomy to pearls, The computer read-out simulates, via motion diagrams, the geometry of shell growth in the several gastropod morphs, and in bivalvia, The last of the introductory displays outlines world distribution’of mollusks, the major variations of habitat, and adaptive responses. The movie, titled "Mollusks in Motion, '' presents about five minutes of such intrigues as the capture of prey by cones, tulips and horse conchs, and of scallops executing their 'herial'' acrobatics, With the basics and dramatics thus covered, the aim swings to the exhibit's theme, In the mini-gallery given over to 'Mollusks in Art Forms'' the eye- catcher is a huge color photo, back-lighted, of a shell grotto, Art objects, many of them lent to the Museum for this exhibit, illustrate the role of the shell in art, ass design inspiration or as an actual inclusion in jewelry and other esthetic creations, The conchologist gets his recognition, and the viewer an eyeful, ina cage titled Collector's Items, Artifacts become the key elements in displays showing shells as reli- gious symbols, spiritual talismans and emblems of nobility; as money and evidence of wealth; and as utensils, weapons, decorations and dye sources, Mollusks as table delicacies and as ingredients in homeopathic medicines are also covered, A replica vertical section of a shell midden discovered on Japan's seacoast shows how it re- veals the nature and timing of climatic changes over past centuries, Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page 11 Overlooking the fact that it doesn't even breathe the word 's chisto- somiasis,'' "Mollusks and Mankind''is a comprehensive, ingenious, and arresting view of the phylum and its multifarious impacts on the genus Homo, most attractively presented. Milton Werner 1975 Supplement to AMERICAN MALACOLOGISTS 300 additional biographies of living and deceased amateur conchologists and professional malacologists appear in the new 1975, 100-page, supplement to the very informative and useful AMERICAN MALACOLOGISTS. The latest address changes are given for the 1,000 biographees listed in the first edition. Few, if any, of the prominent mollusk scientists of America are missing. Over 50 paleoconchologists are now included, as well as many new shellfishery experts, and numerous amateur . shell collectors, many of whom are willing to correspond or exchange. The supplement sells for $2.00 (postage paid). Good news: there is a paperback edition (fully sewn, so it won't pavieerare) now available for only $4.95. Send check for both to "American Malacologists", Box 4208, Greenville, Del. 19807. AER AAAI SND-0 IED OME OEE OED CA 0 NE ND SEO. EOE SELF GUIDED FIELD TRIP Warran Redford Why not take a "Self Gaided Field Trip''to Rice's Pit? It is open weekedays from 93 30 AM to 5: 30 PM and Sundays from 2: 00 to 6,00 PM, For individuals the fee is $0.75 per hour, with special group rates arranged, Fora tour of the museum on the property call ahead and make an appointment; Hampton, Va, 851-3180, See the attached map for directions, -( The map and the above are adapted from t Norfolk Gem and Minera} Association's paper The Lamit.) Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Langley AFB Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page 13 Exoskeletons in the Family Closet, by Milton Werner The Family: product of paternity and maternity, consequence of consanguinity, wellspring of posterity, foundation of continuity, receptacle of heredity, reposit- ory of affinity, similarity, uniformity - yet font of variety. And, properly abused, source of some mild hilarity, maybe, To wit: Suppose, with your collecting expertise, you discover a new species. It fits, beyond quibble, into an existing genus, But your brilliant research throws “new light on the genus, and you realize that it should go into a new family. So you: erect the new family, and maybe a subfamily, and you name them ,.. what? Don't panic. Sometimes a name sort of suggests itself, as in the recent instances, guaranteed genuine and authentic, listed below. (By an astonishing con- catenation of coincidence, all of the'new' specific names were already in the liter- ature associated with one or more other genera.) Be the first savant on your block to scribble these revisions in the margins of your musty old reference tomes. GENUS and NEW SPECIES & SUBSPECIES NEW FAMILY NEW SUBFAMIL’ Gastropoda Melampus bulbus | Electricidae Arabica tenta plicata | Mobilidae Gaza telescopium periscopiana Curiosidae Scrutinae Lunatia clara Debussidae Euphinae Caecum arestrum Necessidae Cassis clayi pugilis Loqua cidae FeniMorea cooperi Prolixidae Conus chocolatus flavus Hotziggidae Neverita candei deliciosa Austeridae : paneer cala ponderosa hig dente Obesidae Gluttinae Siphonaria breweri ; Satiidae Germinae Oliva martini Thirsidae Conchologists of America Bulletin Bivalvia Tapes whitehousei Discors ziczac Carditella fortunei - Cuspidaria brassica Lopha lasius extraordinarius Musculus adonis Rania ponderosa Freshwater Gastropoda Burnupia brazieri Pila sandwichensis cervus Stanleya neglecta anna Cleopatra lurida histrio Spekia vulgaris Freshwater Hivalvia Sphaerium globosum Lampsilis filamentosus "',..ethou better name / than all the family of fame!!! EPR CL ERI PRAT ENE SL EA POD THAN EHSL ME TP ME HT DIL END NE PY LTB TD” 6 Page 14 Duplicidae Ignominae Ambiguidae Gullibilidae Gentilidae Torpididae Virilidae Televisioncidae Nonconformidae Hos pitalidae Perversidae Misoginae Notoriidae Profanidae Rotundidae Luminosidae Ode to Tranquillidae S.T. Coleridge A BYE LAW / CONSTITUTION VOTE ISSUE: * Be it resolved that the dual office of Secretary/ Treasurer be divided and become two separate offices, with one of the positions held by a person from an entirely different geographical area of the United States than the other. In other words if the Secretary comes from the Eastern U.S, then the Treasurer should come from the west or vice-versa, since we are the only nation wide Shell Club devoted to the Shell Collector a better distribution of National Officers will help in broadening the base of collectors for whom we exist, Please send your vote to the Secretary Kathleen Daniels in time for her to cast the absentee votes at the convention business meeting. Conchologists of Americo Bulletin 6 Page 15 COA CONVENTION - 1975 The fourth annual convention of the Conchologists of America was held from Saturday, Oct, 4th through Tuesday, Oct, 7th, at the Windjammer Motor Lodge in Virginia Beach, Virginia with 35 members and guests attending, Aiter a Morning of registration, socializing and 'settling in" our Convention Chairman, Bob Janowsky, welcoMed everyone and opened the convention at 1: 30PM with a few words from our President, Tom Rice, The afternoon passed quickly as we were engrossed in the fascinating and inforMative slide presentations , given; accounts of collecting expeditions, a photographic survey of the Marginellidae, and an in-depth look at an exquisite shell collection were the major topics of the first session. The day ended with a cocktail party hosted by Tom, providing an evening of good companionship, lively conversation, and an inexhaustable flow of ‘garbage can punch", as we atte™pted to forget that we'd be rising early the next Morning. Sunday's progra™ was a full one, with papers scheduled fro™ 8; 30 - 11: OOAM, in order to insure a prompt departure for our field trip to Rice's Fossil Pit, The bus left at noon with everyone in high spirits, eagerly anticipating their finds, Fossils of the Upper Miocene were originally discovered in Rice's Pitas a result of commercial excavation; in order that they could be preserved for educate ional purposes the Rice family halted all excavation and opened the pit to the public for a no™inal charge, Weall hada Marvelous afternoon, digging and scraping for treasures, and returned with Many fine exa™ples of those relics of another era, s Back at the Windja™Mer, we just had tiMe for a brief look at our finds before gathering in the Motel dining room for a no~host cocktail hour and our banquet, followed by our annual auction, Donations had again been very generous and a glance at the table revealed Marginella pringlei, Voluta ebraea, Ecphora quadricostata, Murex textilis, Conus genuanus, Pecten nodoaus, and Murex elongatus, as wellas many other desireable species, With Bob behind the table as auctioneer the bidding was lively and fast paced, and after the last shell had been sold and the last joke told, the COA treasury had been enriched by $ 680,50. A morning of papers was on the agenda for Monday morning followed by a bus trip to Colonial Williamsburg. We spent a pleasant afternoon wandering through the shops and buildings of this restored town, then, all too soon, we had to board the bus for our return to the Modern world, After dinner we had an inforMative se™Minar on shell photography, followed bya concerted effort to polish off the 'yarbage can punch", Tuesday ™orning began with our final slide presentation and a look at so™Me of the previous COA conventions, followed by the business ™eeting, The con- vention officially adjourned at U: 15AM with the close of the businessmeeting, and we were all sorry to see it end as we had had a Marvelous tiMe and Made ™any new and lasting friendships. Dorothy Janowsky Page 16 Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Minutes of the Bu _iness Meeting, D, Janowsky The business meeting of the fourth annual COA convention was called to order by our President, Tom Rice, at 10: 20AM on Tuesday, October 7th, Tom expressed his thanks to everyone who had contributed to the success of the convention and especially to our host and hostess, George and Wylda Stephens, The Secretary's and Treasurer's reports were read and accepted and we moved on to old business, It was Mentioned that the Conchologists of Southeast Asia - Bangkok Chapter, which held its formative meeting a year ago, had experienced difficulty in obtaining the necessary perMits to Meet as a club and consequently was unable to continue as an organization. Tom then spoke of the necessity to increase our MeMbership during the coMing year, and opened the topic for a general discussion fro™ the floor. It was decided that one of the duties of the Vice-President would be to coordinate the efforts of the organization in its MeMbership drive, The noMinating commMittee - ChairMan Wayne Stevens, Kathleen Daniels and Marty Lerner ~- presented the following slate of officers for 1976: President William Bledsoe Vice-President Dorothy Janowsky assisted by Robert Janowsky Secretary/Treasurer Kathleen Daniels A vote was called for and the entire slate was unanimously elected, It was suggested that the MeMbership consider electing separate officers as Secretary and Treasurer for the year 1977 in anticipation of the greater aMount of tiMe required for each office due to increased MeMbership. ; Speaking briefly of the beauties of the Pacific Northwest, Wayne Stevens issued an invitation to the COA to hold its 1976. convention in Portland, Oregon, and read invitations extended to us by the Portland Cha™ber of CoMMerce, the Mayor of Portland, and the Governor of Oregon, A motion.was Made and accep- ted to Meet in Portland next year and Wayne was elected as Convention Chair™an, It was suggested that the COA should be a Ne™ber of both the Western Society of Malacologists and the American Malacological Union, As we arealready in the AMU a motion was made and approved that we also join the WSM, As our final item of business, a vote of heartfelt thanks was given to Wylda and George Stephens for everything they did to make this such an enjoyable time for us all, i} The Meeting was adjourned at lls 15AM, Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page 17 CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA ~ TREASURER'S REPORT FISCAL YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1974 Balance December 31, 1973: $ 417,44 Receipts ~ Dués 381,00 Auction 839.25 1220025 1220.25 1637, 69 Expenses « Printing of Bulletin 244,65 Mailing 107, 15 Addressograph Machines 80.00 Stationary 26.00 Convention Expenses W555 591,65 591,65 Alaan Balance as of December 31, 1974 1046.04 Current Membership 101 Current Balance as of September 30, 1975 1017.20 THE C,.O.A,. CONVENTION 1976, PREVIEW OF PLANS: The place will be Portland, Ore. and the dates June 16th thru June 20th « 1976, at the Thunderbird Motel, The Western Society of Malacologist's will be convening at Pacific Grove, Calif. beginning on June 23rd, which will permit attending both meetings ,. The room rates will be $23.00 single, $28.00 double, and $ 30.00 onthe view side or for rooms with two queen size beds, Adjacent to the Hotel is a home trailer court from whom we have a promise of reserving six spaces for those members attending by trailer, prices are not now available for these accomodations, Several field trips have been planned by our Convention Chairpersons Wayne and Marjorie Stevens, a boat trip up the Columbia River to and thru the | Bonneville Dam with a visit to the dam and the fish hatchery with the return trip | via the scenic highway down the Columbia passing a myriad of magnificant water- falls, another trip planned for is a caravan or bus tripto the Oregon Coast for | some shelling and while on this trip we'll take in the Rose Test Gardens in full bloom, ( tides and weather are being arranged for by Wayne with considerable assistance from God and the weatherman.) . Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page |v (he “Book finder The Fascinating World of the Sea, by Elva D, Sheets, Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, $ 14795 Elva Sheets surely did not set out a quarter of a century ago, on her way to the ocean for the first time, with the sole aim of bringing the wonders of the sea to those who were unable to experience them first hand, But regardless of when the thought first occurred to her, she has quite successfully fulfilled her stated purpose with the writing of this book, The Fascinating World of the Sea is a simple, easy to read book that gives the beginner a starting place in learning about the ocean, marine life and re- lated subjects, In addition to an extensive section on mollusks and shell collecting, there are thumbnail sketches of a wide variety of other. marine life, as wellas explanations of coastal formation, wave action, tidal movement, etc, And Mrs, Sheets has liberally illustrated the text with many excellent photographs, In a book of this type, it isn't surprising to find a few minor errors caused by the condensation and simplification of the material, but in genera}, the material presented is fairly accurate, There are, however, a few subjects that might have been researched a bit more thoroughly. For example, in speaking of cone shells, the author describes the harpoon and venom sac of the 'poisonous'' cones as opposed to the common toothed radula of the 'non-poisonous''cones, Mrs, Sheets is evidently unaware that all cones have the poison dart and venom, and that their danger to man corresponds to their feeding habits, mainly, ( the piscivorous cones having a venom that could be fatal to any vertebrate including man) and size ( the larger the cone, the more venom) , A book on such a broad subject obviously cannot cover everything, and the author must decide what will be included and what omitted, This beinga matter of personal choice, each person would no doubt choose differently, But I think that Mrs, Sheets has exaggerated the problem of taxonomic changes in the statement that by the time a book is five years old, it is 'outdated in 30 many areas that it can no longer be used with confidence''", One has only to consider the great demand for classics suchas the Manual of Conchology to see the fallacy ih that statement, The novice collector might easilly be discouraged, thinking that every few years he faces the purchase of a new set of bookswithout any hope of keeping up with the changes, In the last chapter there are many useful hints on collecting, cleaning | and storing shells, But Mrs, Sheets advocates the use of several dangerous substances | with little or no word of caution on their use, She does warn that lye can injure the | hands and that various chemicals can harm metal utensils and destroy shells, But she neglects to say what such things as Chloride of Lime, Chloroform and Carbon- tetra chloride , improperly handled, can do to the collector, | | i] | | Page 19 Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Being mindful of the sensitivity of many people, I hesitate to mention an aspect of the book that I find personally offensive, Mrs, Sheets seems to feel com- pelled to constantiy inject her religious beliefs into the text, Unfortunately too many people condone this practice when the author's convictions correspond with their own, My objection has nothing to co with the validity of ‘irs, Sheets’ beliefs but rather with the fact that this is not the proper forum for the expounding of any religious point of view whatever it may be, Further, | think that scientists, as a group, might find the implications unpalatable, The authorascribes a deep religious feeling to the “naturalist as oppoged to the acientist, who, by implication then, cannot have a religious conviction, My principle criticisim of the book is an observation rather than a comment on its worth, Much hay been made of the fact that this lady travelled 185,000 miles and suffered many hardships in gathering material for the book, Yet I find very little for which she ever needed to leave home, One could spend a lifetimestanding on a beach watching the tide go in and out without understanding the forces behind it, Just as one could spend years in and on the water in total ignor- ance of the habits, background, life cycle, anatomy, physiology, etc, of many of the creatures in it, however keen one's observations, In short, most of this material could have been obtained from textbooks or from visits to a local library, Mrs, Sheets has referred a number of times to her forthcoming companion book, We can only hope that it will bring more of the adventures and personal observations so conspicuously absent from this one. The greatest value of this book, then, lies noi in what it has to say but in Mrs, Sheets' enthusiasm and in the interest that she can generate in the beginner to motivate him to a deeper study of the subject, Lee Nelson Numerical ‘axonomy, The Principles ani Practice of Numerical Classification, Peter H,A, Sneath and Robert R, Sokal, W.H, Freeman and Co,, San Francisco, Calif, xv + 573pp, sl Illustrations & 9 Tables, 1973 $22.50 Taxonomy is one of those words, wa use it to cover a wide number of things, many of which are by no stretch of the imagination included in its;definition, Taxonomy as used by Simpson in Principles of Animal Taxonomy, means ''the theoret- ical study of classification, including its bases, principles, procedures and rules", also that " classification is the ordering of organisms into vrouys ( or sets) on the basis of their relationships" - from these definitions and several others Sneath and Sokal proceed to a discussion of the meaning of Nierical Taxonomy as they propose to use it throughout the rest of the book, From a historical point of view the authors discuss the concepts of Michel Adanson ( 1727-1806) a French botanist, which may be said to underlie the concepts of modern numerical taxonomy and the almost negligable impact of evolut- ionary theory unti}l well into ths twentieth century, } } / | Conchologists of America Bulletin 6 Page 20 The entire book covers, by chapter, in detail The Aims and Principles of Numerical Taxonomy, Taxonomic Frinclples, Taxonomic Evidence, Taxonomic Resemblence, Taxonomic Structure, Identification and Dis crimination, Implications for Nomenclature and Numerical] Taxonomy in other fields than Biological Systematics, together with an entire chapter devoted to a critica] examination of Numerical Taxonomy, The final chapters of text is a discussion of what the authors feel that the future of systematics will he during the next decade, A coverage of numerical taxonomy , of necessity, requires a consid- erable dependance on Mathematical methods and definitions, which will present a stumbling block to the reader without soe college level Mathematical training, The complexity of the interrelations of taxonoMetric criterla require coMputer Methods of data handling to be used, as does the great number of criteria which can be dealt with, Many fields other than biologicai ones have been very successfully analysed by the methods of numerical taxonomy, whichdaas proven to be a powerful tool in such diverse disciplines as ecology, biogeography, Medicine, the social sciences and even to specific Material within the Arts and Humanities, The authors have prov- ided,a lengthy appendix listing the applications of nuMerical] taxonomy in the field of Biological Systematics (since 1956) which covers almost every area of Zoology and Botany. An extensive Bibliography is included which will provide the interested reader with an opportunity to see how these principles are related to the actual practice of classification in specific cases, If you do not understand Taxonomy or what philosophical concepts underlie it, read this book, it will not be easy, but, it will be well worth the effort. Frank Nelson Occasional Papers on Moliusks The Department of Mollusks Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, Volume 4 Number 5] Proserpine Snaile of the Greater Antilles ( Prosobranchia; Heicinidae) by Kenneth J, Boss and Morris K, Jacobson A systematic monograph of the distribution of the subfamily Prosser. pininae in the islands of Jamaica and Cuba, with a discussion of the phylogeny of the group, Proserpina s,s, and Despoenelia are a unique group of land snails which having lost the operculum have a Mantle which May be extended to cover the shell in & Manner similar to the Marine Cowries, Volume 4 NuMber 52 Catalogue of the Taxa of the SubfaMily Proserpininae ( Proso- branchia; Helicinidae) by Kenneth J. Boss and Morris K, Jacobson An adjunct to the monographic treatment of the Proserpininae found sn the Greater Antilles, listing all of the species referable to this subfamily of Helicinidae from the Tropical New World. Conchologists of Americo Bulletin ¢ Page 21 Volume 4 Number 53 Felipe Poey wiih a Catalogue of the Mollusca described by him, by Kenneth J, Bossa and Morriy K, Jacobson A biography of one of the Renaissance Men of the ninteenth century, a Cuban of many talents little known in the United States, with a catalogue of the mollusca atributed to him, Volume 4 Number 54 R, Ellsworth Call with a bibliography of his works on Mollusks and a Catalogue of his Taxa, by Richard I, Johnson bound with William A, Marsh, his introduced Taxa of Unionidae or Freshwater Mussels » by Richard I, Johnson, Biographies and catalogues ‘of the Taxa of two ninteenth century A™Merican students of the Freshwater Molluscan Fauna of the Mid -west, Frank Nelson Principles of Hydrology 2nd,Ed, R,C, Ward McGraw-Hill Book Co, ( UK) Ltd, Publication date 9/75 xvi+ 367pp Numerous Text Figures and Tables, $15.00 As conchologists we are always aware of the portion of the earth's water which makes up the oceans, and those bodies of fresh water in which Mo:]usks live; but ‘ve do not normally concern ourselves with all of the other aspects of the study of the earth's water system, : Hydrology as a separate discipline is relatively new and does not have a vast, lony standing body of historical bibiiography, Mr, Ward's book is a comprehensive coverage of all of the components which go into making the entjre subject of Hydrology, The introduction goas froma brief history of Hydrology, through an explanation ef the hydrological cycle anda iiscussion of the systems approach to the subject. The rest of the book is concerned with precipitation, interception, evaporation, evapotranspiration, soil Moieture, ground water, runoff and the drainage basin, each of which is treated in detail in its’ own chapter, There is soMe Mathematical treatment but not so much that the reader with a non- MatheMati cal background will be unable to follow the text, and those equati-:<« which are included are clearly explained for the general reader, One of the great strengths of this book lies in the extensive bibliographies which are included at the end of each chapter, covering the Most recent and Modern ideas in each subject covered, This is a book which I would heartily recommend as the one book which a general collection of books relating to the natural sciences should contain in order to have a balance between the interrelat' ng disciplines which Make up what ina simpler day was called Natural History. Frank Nelson 2 ¢ 22 Conchologists of America Bulletin 5 Page For those of you unable to attend the Virginia Beach Convention the pre- sentations were: Saturday Afternoon October 4th Kirk Anders Slides of Shelling in Costa Rica William Bledsoe Selected Shells from his own Collection Nick Katsaras Marpinella Species and Maximum and Minimum sizes of Cypraea, Bill Old The Amecipagos Expedition to Peru and the Galapagos Islands, Sunday Morning October 5th Rob Dillon The Fresh Water Mussels of the Tennessee River System Bill Old The American Conidae Rob Dillon An orientation in Paleontology, with special emphasis on the Rice's P& Area, Monday Morning October 6th Dorothy Germer Pectinidae Mary Palmer Fossils of the Caloosahatchee Formations of Florida Tom Rice & Kirk Anders Shelling on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia Russel Jensen & Jerry Haraseywitch Shelling in West Mexico - Monday Evening October 6th Henry Close, Moderator A Symposium on Shell Photography Tuesday Morning October 7th Kirk Anders A Trip on a Commercial Scallop Boat Kirk Anders Past COA Conventions, Note: in volume 1, there are two different issues of “number 7" (7 & 7A), one issue of “number 8" and no “number 9"; fide American Conchologist (June 1989) 17(2):11 7 Secretary/ Treasurer 7 Editor K, Daniels Frank J. Nelson Bos 265A) Route 1 95-24 110th Street Apollo, Pa, 15613 Richmond Hill, N.Y. 11419 * % & CONTENTS * * + Page 1 Speaking Out Frank Nelson Page 2 Cypraea cruickshanki Robert W, Morrison Page 5 Escargot or Essential Protein? Frank Nelson Page 6 How I Spent say Vacation Milton Werner Page § C.O.A. Convention Plans RW, &M, Stevens Page 14 The Bookfinder F, Nelsor aL Warne |) Pape {7 Maileback Convention Reservation Form \y! MALAY eI ae ee 1 kook ke ok Ok Ok ok OF kk Ok \b Pl ee Mt \) f DEL j | tea’ FIELD MUSEUM LIBRARY Speaking out Frank J. Nelson Another issue to put-to-bed, and I've tryed this time to cut down the number of pages toa More Manayeable size. Putting together issues of eighteen and twenty pages pets downright overwhelming! Please do your bit by setting down some of your own thoughts and observations and sending them to Me, I can not do it ali! The big news in this issue is the Materia) on our Annual Convention, I've included a send-back page so that you can advise Mr, &wirg, Stevens, the Conventdon Chairpersons, of your plans, Vlease give them as much advance notice as you can, they've got quite a lot to organize and need all of your cooperation in getting all of the arrangements finalized, The amount of work that they've put into this program is enormous and deserves to have all of the recognition that they can pet!! [I'M sure it will be a spectacular Meeting plan to attend, Another first: photographic illustrations! these were Made by recopying color prints ina Xerographic process and look real good, Conchologists of América - Bulletin 7 Page 2 “During the reviewing of several books for the last few issues I've noticed that I have had to touch on Evolution on several occasions, Some readers might feel that this is a subject not appropriate to this journal, and that it is rather the special province of the Theologians, I disagree with this kind of head -in-the-sand point of view and must insist that no subject touching upon Modern Biology is inap- propriate, and feeling as I dol shall continue to deal with Evolution and Genetics etc, as with any 'fait accompli" and resist the temptation ti Missionary zeal, It is not my intent to give anyone offence respecting their beliefs, nor shall I, > DD (RI EER GREED) RD ( er « DASE ED { > REGAL CSR IRR GRR ERR C2 MALLS. EAD CI ACTED IM) Et) RE Cypraea cruickshanki Kilburn, 1972 and notes on Endemic Species of Cypraea from South Africa, Of all the endeMic groups of Cypraea, those from the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, and South Africa have consistantly been the Most interesting to scient- ists and collectors alike, Of these three groups, we know least about the South African Cowries, because of the depth of their habitat and the fact that they are seldom found alive, The endemic South African Cypraea are penerally considered to include three very rare species, C, fultoni Sowerby, 1903; C. broderipii Sowerby, 1832: and C, barclayi Reeve, 1857. Since there are accurate records of specimens of C, broderipii and barclayi being taken from Mauritius and Diego Garcia Island they are not technically to be considered endemic to South Africa, even though most of the known specimens have been taken from the stomachs of fish caught in deep waters off Natal, The cowries undisputably endemic to South Africa are: Cypraea algoensis Gray, 1825 Cypraea amphithales Melvill, 1888 Cypraea capensis Gray, 1828 Cypraea cohenae Burgess ,1965 Cypraea edentula Gray, 1825 Cypraea fuscodentata Gray, 1825 Cypraea fuscorubra Shaw, 1909 to include only C, castanea Higgins, 1868, and not_C, similis_Gray, 1831, ina rev- ision of those two former species into a single species, Allen, Barnard, and Abbott all consider both C, castanea and C, gimilig to be included in Shaw's revision into C, fuscorubra, Many systematists consider C, gondwanalandensis an objective junior synonym | of C, fuscorubra and the holotype of C, gondwanalandensis to be merely a globose 9 form of C, fuscorubra, well within the limits of norma] population variation, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 3 The continental shelf of South Africa is less a shelf than an abrupt drop-off, In many areas the 100-fathom line occurs within a mile of the coast and near Cape St, Lucia the 100-fathom line virtually coincides with the coastline, In the areafrom Durban south to Port Elizabeth the 1,000-fathom line is within 100 miles of the coast, and in a few areas the 2,000-fathom line is within that limit. South of Port Elizabeth and around to the Cape of Good Hope the continental shelf is more typical of most other large land masses,. This area includes that treasure house of beach shells, Jeffreys Bay. ‘ Thus the endemic South African cowries are predominently deep-water dwellers, According to reliable, though scarce, locality data, only C, capensis, edentula, and fuscorubra are consistently found in water of less than 100 fathoms, Beach specimens of these three species are consistently found after a storm, com- monly, but live-taken specimens of any of the endemic South African Cypraea are ‘real prizes, Probably the single most profound influence on their deep-water habitat is the Equatorial Current, Very strong and very warm, this current moves ina westerly direction just north of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, It strikes the African Coast near Cape Delgado at the northeast tip of Mozambique, Here it divides, a south flowing branch, usually known as the Mozambique or Agulhas Current, flowing down the east and south coasts of South Africa almost to Cape town before it meets the cold currents of the Atlantic, Thus the deep-water cowries of South Africa have a warmer habitat than might be expected at the depths at which they live, Relatively little deep-water exploration has been carried on off the Natal coast so that new fauna found in these waters should be no surprise, It was from this same area that the first living Coelacanth ( Latimeria chalumnae Smith , 1940) was taken in 1939, It had been thom#hi to have been extinct for some 50 million years, In 197la trawler operating out of Durban brought another surprise to light when it netted three specimens of a new and very distinctive Cypraea, The spec- imens were obtained by Robert Cruickshank of Durban and he made them avaltlable for study by R,N, Kilburn, malacologist at the Natal Museum at Pietermaritzburg, Kilburn named the new cowly for Cruickshank and published his findings in the June 1972 issue of Novitates, the publication of the Natal Museum, Kilburn noted that the new cowry had a marked resemblance to the Family Triviidae of Lamarck 1810, commonly known as the trivia, However, it was Kilburn's good fortune that one of the specimens still contained soft parts which, while badly decomposed, still permitted a study of the radula, This was sufficient | to place the species in the Family Cypraea, primarilly because the marginal teeth of the radula were complex rather than simple as in the Trivildae, Kilburn noted that there is a close similarity between the radula of the new species and that of Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 4 There seems little need to repeat all of Kilburn's description except to em- phasize the markedly globose, thin, and translucent characteristics of the speci- men I hada chance to study over a period of some weeks, It was taken, -ex-pices, from the same area and depth as the holotype and the two lectotypes, and it appear- ed to have suffered little from ingestion by a fish, Based on Kilburn's description of the specimen the illustrations with this paper can be considered typical of the species, At the time of writing there are at least 20 specimens known, All of those on which I have data are between 25 and 35 mm in length, (The dimensions of the holotype and the two lectotypes are: > Length W idth Height Holotype 28,8 mm 24,5 mm 20,4 mm Lectotype I 33,0 mm 28,2 mm 23,4 mm Lectotype I EO rie Teche: 26,3 mm 22.5 mm There is a mystery, now at least 10 years old, relative to an as-yet uniden- tified deep-water South African Cowry., In 1963 three specimens of an unknown Cypraea were dredged off Cape Point, All were moreor less broken and only one was adult, KH Barnard examined them and pronounced them as a globose form of C, fuscorubra, an identification he made, he said, ‘with considerable doubt", Kilburn notes that C, crulckshanki appears to be a closer relative of this unknown species than is C, fuscorubra, But, he says, regarding this ‘mystery’ cowry, "no final decision can be Made regarding it's status until such time as More material is available, Even the exact locality from which the Cape Point shells were obtained is in doubt as to the cited locality .,,, would put their place of origin in False Bay where depths do not exceed 102 meters, The Cape Point shells were supposedly dredged in 180 fathoms, Bibliography: Allen, Joyce. Cowrie Shells of World Seas, Georgian House, Melbourne, 1956 Burgess, C. M, , The J.iving Cowrles, AtS*® Barnes and Co,, New Jersey, 1970 Dance, S, Peter, Rare Shells, University of California Press, 1969 Kilburn, R.N% , A_New Cowry from Deep Water off Natal, with notes on Allied Species, Durban Museum Novitates, Vol Ix, Part 14, Smith, Margaret M,, The Search for the World's Oldest Fish, Oceans Vol 3, No, 6 Wagner, RJ;L% and Abbott, RIT%, Eds, Van Nostrand's Standard Catalog of Shells Second Edition, D, Van Nostrand Co,, New Jersey, 1967. | Conchologists of America Bulletin ? Page 5 | Cypraea cruickshanki Kilburn Plate I Plate II Dorsum Ventrum Cane & GatZo. > SEERA )~ SEARS -<AMAD> € ) LRRD ¢ ) BLA ¢ pRB) RT) ERED EEC) ERED () URED} ED 1) ERD {) CD-R (EE 0) GL RD (CEE GED SIIB ESCARGOT OR ESSENTIAL PROTEIN? Jarmo is a Neolithic townsite ona high bluff in the Kurdish foothills of northeastern Iraq. <A wide scattered pattern of radiocarbon dating indicates a fairly constant occupation from about 7000BC to perhaps 6750BC, During the period in which Jarmo fluorished the area seems to have had the climate and vegitation characteristic of a modern Mediterranean woodland environment with warm dry summers and cool rainy winters, During the settlement period the villiage was situated about 36m above the bed of an intermittant stream, which was probably the major water supply. Based upon the number of house remains Jarmo hada probable population of between 125 and 200 people, which is in good agreement with the size of settlements in the area today. Jarmo remains show a variety of flint instruments, which include many sickle-blades etc,., made froma glassy volcanic rock obsidian, The obsidian was quarried in the Lake Van areasome 500 Km to the north of Jarmo which would indicate , seeMingly, a trading elemrnt in the economy, pottery does not appear in the lowest two thirds of the settlement strata, The biological Materials which have been identified at Jarmo indicate that grains were domesticated during the entire period, and that the skeletal remains of the domestic goat covered the entire period and domestic pigs occur in the upper strata only. A significant gathering and hunting component of the economy is indicated by remains of red fox, wolf, gazelle, wild cattle, red and roe deer, wild sheep, boar and onager, Great Masses of land snails (Helix saloMonica) are present together with some freshwater crabs and fish, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 6 The dentition of sevenskeletons found in the area show signs of only Mod- erate wear, which points toa less coarse diet than has been inferred from similar earlier populations, From this it would seem that the diet probably consisted of better prepared vegetable foods with a probable larger proportion of Meat, The villiage of Jarmo seeMingly represents the prototypical econoMic unit of small settlements at this period, the end of the stone age, Hoe agriculture May be inferred by the abscence of reMains of either plow or of plow animals, which was combined with the gathering and hunting of wild plant and animal foods, substantiated by finds of acorns, pistachio nuts and snails, to supplement the diet, : Frank Nelson Butzer, Karl1W, 1964 Environment and Archaeology, Aldane Publishing Co, Ghicago, Il, a (><A ) AAR (9 AED CEN (AED RR YI) AERTS) I DA AE > Rt 9 ORI (ORY O- E) RED- (ERED (AAR O-EIEE-(SREI Converting the system of MeasureMents used in the United States from the presently used English System to the Metric System has been given a considerable push forward by the passage of the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, Virtually all of the other industrialized nations of the World now use the International Syste™ of Units ( abbreviated S.I, , from the French), A recommendation was made some years ago that a coordinated program, ona national level, be started which would complete the conversion in ten years, the new bill which was passed does not have a time limit ( after all ten years is too short a time in which to expect Congress to boila three Minute egg), That leads us into Mike Werner's latest offering arguing against the 2,54 centimeter worm of progress catching up to us all, HOW ISPENT MY SUMMER VACATION, A BUNDLE, AND CONSIDERABLE RHETORIC EFFORT IN RECOUNTING THE DATA or, What Seemed Like 20,000 Leagues (110,000 kilometers ) Under the ''Sea Frontiers" Spell Faster, and faster the metric system is infringing on our sanitv, now with congressional sanction, We can look forward to quantifying our transactions and diversions in lengths, weights, and volumes that are always too big or too small to deal sensibly with the business at hand, On top of that, we'll be expected to strip our language of an array of smooth, tasty, bite-sized words like foot and mile, pint and gallon, ounce and pound, In their place, we'll be asked to take to our bosoms an inventory of such clanking, bolted-together hardware as ''kilometer''and '' deca - liter", Just let one of those erector-set contraptions get jammed sideways in your mouth, and you'll be lucky to get it unwedged and on its way without damage to your teeth and gums, Se | Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 7 But if this mensural and lexical onset catches us unprepared, it woul) uot be the fault of Sea Frontiers, the worthy periodical of the International Oceanographic Foundation, ( All of this is indispensable to the unusual nature of my vacation story, as you'll see.) When SF employa any of the units that are headed for the history ‘ books, it converts the measurements into metric, onthe spot, For over a year, it was so breathlessly eager in missionary zeal as to use the method exemplified in the excerptthat follows, Describing a real-life sea rescue it says, ''the airmen spotted a drifting liferaft.about 11/2 miles (2,4 kilometers) from the lifeboat," Say what you will about the metric system, this passage demonstrates clearly how a simple tutorial touch was cleverly employed for double service, Its second job, obviously, was to fan those narrational embers into flames, And even in subjects that lacked the coals of drama, SF's parenthetic torches found, among the weights and measures, tinder for rhetorical fires, This unlikely magic was applied assiduously ~ not to say relentiessly - to liven up every sort of subject from teredos to tornados, But alas « perhaps the apostolic ardor has cooled, or the resident stylist has become obsessed with some such fetish as rhetoric grace or readability, The conversions are now relegated to footnote status, a workea-day expedient that has robbed SF's pages of their recent editorial irides - cence, Nevertheless, I was atill under the spell of the abandoned literary device when I sat down to put my summer adventures on paper— only to learn that simply uaing it doesn't assure higher-voltage prose, SF had quietly been practicing a scrie vener's sorcery so subtile as to escape my notice, Here is how my eager, unguided atternpt came out : FO? 41! yas @wenpets: fhe tédedtus it norrn~ feoouticeth «ot oot From the time the shel) bug first bit me, I planned and saved for a collector's ~<dream vacation, Recently, the regimen of scrimping and yearning waa cut short by the timely passing of an uncle who had loaded his portfolio with Amalgamated Lobster in 1947, Now, with the need for frugality lifted, 1s it any wonder that I made straight for the fabled rocksbound coast of Maine? Even before unpacking I was balanced ona high perch, thrilling tothe marine vista and throbbing to the pound ( ,454 kilogram) of sea on stone ( 6,35 kilograms) , The thought of 14 hectic days ( 10,4 metric days) of furious, glorious shelling here, relieved of all the frustration of being stuck in Kansas, and collecting via catalogs and swap lists, | Throughout this intoxicating excursion, the sea was, 80 to speak, my front yard ( 94,4 centimeters), Ihad the good fortune to be able to rent an abandoned | lighthouse, Its consrtuction - for example, the thickness of its footings (,305 metering | and the three quartz ( 2,54 litere ) windows in the tower ~- attested to the might of the | sea when stirred to fury, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 8 Among the fascinations that glow my memory is the story of the last keeper of this light, I learned it on one of my frequent shopping trips to Squishibogg, a fishing village of 263 year-round people ( 337 metric people) only a few miles ( several kilo- meters ) away. While these natives are typically taciturn, I learned this, and mach morelocal lore, froma catcheboat captain, He never failed to chat freely with me while his son weighed the lobsters that I feasted on almost daily, It had been the light-tender's dream, Captain Caleb told me, to have hig son succeed him, Sut he over~indulged the lad, who soon became a Peck's ( 8,8] liter's) Bad Boy, and worsened to sucha degree ( .556 C,) that older villagers still refer to him as "that half-pint ( .237 Uter) wise-acre ( .405 hectare),'"' Came the day ’ when the keeper saw his son flounce ( ,0296 f1, liter) out of the lighthouse and run awayto sea, He became the proverbial wastrel, witha galin ( 3,79 liters) in every port, His father had to foot ( .305 meter) the bills for his roistering, Finally, broken in Mental as wellas physical health, the prodigal son drifted into bird-watching, Learning this, the heartbroken father threw himsclf from the top of his beloved tower into the churning sea. The tragedy ended on aanote of irony when the scapegrace gon, pursuing his new pastime, saw the plunging figure with bleared.eye, He entered it in his birding log, with fuddled gratification, as a Curtiss Helldiver, The Farmer': Almanac was right: "Spare the rod (5,03 meters ) and spoil the child ," Concerning the ecstasies of my first liveecollecting experiences, I would find it hard to pick my favorite from the two basic types : {) Clutch and go: Being bashed off of slippery boulders by the heavier of the icy waves 2) Inch ( 2,54 Centimeters ) and Flinch ( 2,54 fl, centimeters) : Cheating the waves by bellying along on barnacled rocks, pressing down firmly when bashed, Both of these thrills beat a barn-raising by a mile (1.6 kilometers), And nobody ever col- lected a suitcase full of Nucella lapillus and Littorina lttoria ina wheat fleld, Let's hear from all you swappers! The address is RYFD% Bushelville ( 35,24 literville), The one little cloud was that I eventually had to wire my brother for Money, { I later told him I think I'll keep him wired for Money permanently, Ha Ha.) If you don't have soMeone you can hit for a quick hand-~out ( 10,2 centimeters out) take my advice and go easy on the lobster, Golly Ned = no wonder Uncle Sigismund was acqu- ainted with all those financiers, legislators and percision dancers, + + + + + + + + + + + + + ta ik L Well, you don't need Me to toll you that I failed , somehow , to get any real dramatic milage (oops), any added drive or color, out of those parenthetic embellishments, The fascination and excitement are conveyed by the writing style alone, But can you detect the subtile difference between SI*'s handling and Mine? Inever did fathom ( to h--k with it) their secret, And My failure has put Me right back where I started, regarding the Metric system ~ convinced all over again that we should greet its approach with sullen ignorence, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page g Metric teagsurement, my foot ( 12 inches), P%S” You can bet your collecting bucket I wouldn't even cross the street to meet a rf y g metric precision dancer, Going Shell Collecting ? Listen to the experts! Read about the how's, why's and when's of over 50 shell expeditions and collecting trips undertaken by such famous malacolo- gists as W, J, Clench, Charles T, Simpson, F, C, Baker, Charles Hedley of Australia, and James Ferriss, Inthe Bicentennial anthology, The Best of the Nautilus, the Methods and results of shell exploring are revealed in detail for such areas as Cuba, Hawali, the Azores, Japan, Panama, and 20 of the U.S, States, In reading this book you will relive your own experiences and prepare yourself for your next shell-collecting vacation, Exerpted from America's oldest journal on shelis, this fascinating collection of articlec is edited by R, Tucker Abbott, well-known author of Many books on shells, CONCHOLOSISTS OF AMERICA 1976 CONVENTION JUNE 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 PLACR: Portland, Oregon at Thunderbird Jantzen Beach Motor Inn. FACTLITIFS: Thunderbird Jantzen Beach Motor Inn provides some of the Finest convention facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Situated on the bank of, and commanding a magnificent view of, the mighty Columbia River. HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS: A block of rooms have been set aside for COA members. We are hopeful that we can all be on one f ya in one wing. Choice of waterfront r hs overlooking the Columbia or Garden Court. Send your hotel reservations directly to Thunderbird Jantzen Beach Motor Inn, 1401 North Hayden Island Drive, Portland, Gregon 97217, telephone (593)- 283-2111. (Reservations cards available. Or if you write or telephone desipnate that you are with COA proup.) Note: Summer rates will be S1.06 higher than shown on reservation cars. Note: For the ladies. The Thunderbird is actually a part of © ultramodern shopping on containing over 70 fine Nang Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 10 AIRPORT ARRIVALS: Thunderbird provides - on call - Courtesy transportation RT ees a NE HB: 6 a. 'g 4 * e service to and fram the airport. Direct line telephone is located adjacent to baggage claim area at Portland International Airport. ; FFs located two blocks south of south end of Interstate Bridge ramp crossing of Columbia River from Oregon into Washington. CAMPER & TRATLER FACILITIES: Five (5) spaces for COA members have been reserved at the Jantzen Beach Trailer Park. These spaces will be available on a first reservation basis. For camper reservations at this facility write to Henry Afrank, 1503 North Hayden Drive, Space 39, Portland, Oregon 97217, Telephone (503) 289-7626. Price $5.00 plus tax per night (for 2 people). Space may also be reserved at Portland Mobile Home Court, 9000 N.E. Union, Portland, Orepon 97211. Telephone (503) 285=1617. (located about 1 miles from Thunderbird). Price $4.75 min‘imum. BOAT ARRIVALS: Moorage facilities in front of Thunderbird or accommodations can arranged at Hayden Island Yacht Club quest dock. HITCHHIKERS: On your own! REGISTRATION AND PROGRAM Wednesday afternoon ~ June 16th: Farly bird registration facilities will be in tospitality room. Notice of room number will be in lobby. This will provide early arrivals registration, meet new friends, vet reacquainted with old friends, swap yarns, shells or what have you. Oregon Society of Canchologists members will attempt, on request, to show visitors around Portland area, Thursday « June 17th: 8:30 asm. - Registration An optional walking tour of downtown Portland at $2.50 per person, Reservations must be made in advance as transportation will depart Thunderbird 8:30 a.m. for start of downtown tour at 9:00 a.m. You will be back in time for lunch. 11:45 a.m. - Get acquainted lunch program. Address of Welcome by President Bill Bledsoe Address of Welcome by Convention Chairman, R. Wayne Stevens Introduction to Great Pacific Northwest. A summary of where you are and what you can expect to see on your visit - by: Clare Stahl, Former President of Oregon Society of Conchologists and Past President of Geological Society of the Oregon Country. Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page | 1:15 p.m. = Openings of session hy Tom Rice, Program Chairman. 2:30 pem. = Coffee break. 5:00 p.m, = Adjournment 5:30 = :30 p.m. = No host cocktail party Evening free. Friday - June 18th: 9:00 asm. - Farly bird drawing for door prizes - followed by program. 10:30 a.m. = Coffee break No host luncheon 1:00 p.m. = Program 2:30 pam. - Coffee break 5:00 p.m. - Adjournment Triday eveninr: 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. - No host cocktail hour. 7:30 pem. - Banquet and shell auction. Saturday - June 19th: 9:00 a.m. = Business meeting - election of officers, Adjournment open. 1:00 pom. - Here we have an optional depending upon pre-registration. Option A: Boat trip departing 1:00 p.m. from Thunderbird dock on the luxurious 5? ft. "Yachts of Pin" heading up the world renowned Columbia River Gorge to Beacon Rock and return (approximate 5 hr. trip). This trip will require a registration of "9 people at $15,00 per person. Cocktail facilities aboard. TF insufficient registration received we will follow: Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 “Page 12 Option B: Scenic Columbia Gorge Tour. The famed Marian shrine of the Sanctuary of Our Sorrowftil Mother is the first stop on your itinerary. Now, touring eastward via the old Scenic Highway to Crown Point where you enjoy a 35-mile long view of the mighty Columbia River and the steep ris ing, cliffs of the Gorge carved out of the Cascades by the swift flowing water. ‘Continue on past Latourell and Wahkeeah Falls to view and photograph ‘the magnificent 620 foot high spectacle of Multnomah Falls, the second highest falis in the country. At Ponneville Dam, you Will see the fish hatchery and power plant, try to spot the Salmon as they fight their way upstream over the winding fish ladder and see the unique fish counting station. Return to Cadelatiet via the scenic water level route. Without a Lunch stop this tour takes approximately 4 hours. The cost per person is $8.00, children 1? and under $4.00 each, ‘with a minimum of 20. Sunday - June 20th: Departing from the Jantzen Beach Thunderbird on the morning of June 20, the group will first enjoy a visit to the world-renowned Int sori gre Rose Test Gardens on its hillside perch overlooking downtown Portland. Your motorcoach will then proceed through the fertile farm lands and across the Coastal Range to Tillamook. Tn Rockaway you will stop for a coffee break at the Steven's summer home on the ocean, From Rockaway you will drive north along Oregon's Pacific coast- line with its miles of sandy beaches, rugped headlands and forested mountains whose slopes descent to the water's edpe, and over Neahkahnie Mountain, one of the most beautiful viewpoints on the coast. After a lunch stop you will drive through Seaside and visit the official terminating point of the Lewis and Clark Trail. You. Will then arrive in the port of Astorta. In Astoria you will visit Astor Column , high atop Coxcomb Hill from where you'll enjoy a panoramic vista of the Columbia River Estuary. Your return trip to Portland will be along the Columbia River on Route 30. All too soon you arrive back in Portland for the conclusion of your Scenic Oregon Coast Tour. The cost per person is $15.00, children under 2 27. 50, with a minimum of 20. (Lunch is not included. ) Tf time and tide is right we will have a shell collecting stop on the Nehalem breakwater following our coffee break. Please send your plans for attendance and participation at earliest possible date to R. Wayne Stevens, P.0. Box 2712, Portland, Oregon 97208, Conchologists of America bsuliesiim 4 Pace ‘ pp, tO gs ayy BOOM gg agg ’ — am ti: nent A gat es Sasa sh il gt cat et ES II I NN OMIT Ta Nea SC THE eee OF TE y A SUMPTIOUS AND APPROPREATE PCN ISN NTAL, Ger freelirite au fhe fornes Marek Go, (976 Reta LARRY Tsblterbs No dasattchctie lerabte diardhaek edition booth ga unabated leather and oof the haphest quakes of printing. wath marble i pared etiel paper A howep well krunwte shells ar Frown oon fill color Gnty Piro PICENTENNEAL PRESENTATION Copy Qyty on few qeimmbernd: copies are avalible sad onty tas ad vanced shibseriptioty, each as dorddited pam bered curel per comibly confegeraphed hy the editor fe Che iidividuidh pun chaser Strack oon soft, high-quality: paper. with oreehle ized eo fonves, aud with a crihber hoolamark. his verliahte on veetment ascun PX Centurylike miasterpters af beak mana af Anmierican Conchology facture. This eleyant book, oa camcdated feather. t balitedd by Ro Pucker Abbott Inatches! wath a cpecaliy designed, presentation slip fos QAM OMe pray edo tha foorth ot batin bt A PBieentennial Anthology rom the first 40 Years of Whe Neutitns 1G00 of the most interesting and significant artieles are reproduced with modern day perspectives by the edifor ‘Phe 28K page book is replete with colicholopiea! Tom quae eds atadcbiurterenag: Joya may (Het ely an) the yyves.ped ipsa cit phyerfecut ur private dibnary, a fall deathor hour copy ray he pide fet vent persamd pectiieatiais. all edges crtded: and yane tance aecounts of shell collecting tn proneer Ameren. Ginped on beret poald hander fled by the well kamen Come down the Mississipypy inhoat boat on a unto Promevbverric formbe of boat Gaebel the bough gs meade with Pecarat anige trip with Ki Ge Ditker in 190%: venture moperted. Seottih feather of thee tages qualify approved ty the Prrtisti Maseunr Your ecpy vail hee aotopraphert, with Charles Hedley on tus first helmet dive oi 5 numlicred bee dated: ORITOAKE OO Agantable uipet special Australian reefoin T894: po “Tupi” with © : . ; ‘ Perrteet PM oStmpson in W921) join dames Ferriss and Sean check at inet gh tian Ceore Clapp in TX00 at Chatman ss Dome tn Cite Wibeakeapeate Petd the Great Smoky Mountains: and) aught wath Ne Herbs [20s Cirmertyath , Pee Tony TES Abo Loche, a poltceman of Athantie (ity, whe wis felled hy a ehan dropped om din head fy seageatll an TOE A UNIQUHE ADDITION TO ANY CONCHOLOGICAEL LIBRARY ee a agg et att iy et ON le aN gt a Oh ot gh etl eae Ng tt a ate et Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 34 (he “Book finder Sometimes one picks up a book that is sucha delight to the eye that it requi- »res a conscious effort of will to read the text, and when the text is done as well as the "coup d'oeil!’' of the illustrations, then -«.- you've got a real gem! A book that looks this good is all too often the sort to become a coffee table decoration, and after the first few times of amusing oneself with the pictures it becomes just a decorative piece, Not so The Life Giving Sea, to which David Bellamy brings the best of credentials and a delightful, clear and brief yet witty writing style together with material about which he is enthusiastic, Each chapter covers a single topicwith- in the whole discipline of Oceanography, but none of the chapters loses sight of the whole interrelated ecosystem which encompases the salt-water bainket covering moat of the Earth's surface, Starting with that time, estimated as three billion years apo, when circum. stances were right and life first began in that primordal chemical soup which were the oceans of that time, Till today, the waters of the sea have contained the greatest diversity of life on earth, The narrative takes one through the ovollition of life on earth from it's most primitive to the most highly evolved life forms to be found in the modern geas, Much of the book treats various phyla of anittala with respect to the life styles of selected members, relating the over-all development of that phylum to the general pattern of evolution of higher species and of complex eco-systems, The last section of the book ia called "Potential to Man" in which Mr, Bellamy discusses the human food resource which the sea provides and speaks of the depredat - ions worked on the sea by man's careless misuse of the seas, The evolutionary and: adaptive potential of most of the gea's life forts is so great that even England's North Sea coastal waters, a reservoir for Industrial and Human Sanitary Waste for the entire period since the start of the Industrial Revolution, still produces a disproportionately high portion of the food fish catch of the world; and has not been depleted of the large diversity of species present, The real danger to the sea comes from the uncontrolled overfishing of food fish species and other economically valuable sea life, to the point at which the entire eco-system is upset, If you want to understand all of the complex interrelations of various creatures of the sea in the light of today's biological concepts, Read This Book!! The most direct comment that I can offer ia that it's like holding a well made Television Special on your lap, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 19 @ Just so that I can continue to feel that I've been properly critical, the only complaint that I must make is that the illustration at the top of page 156 is reversed with respect to the captions, Nemouria No, 16 Occasional Papers of the Delaware Muscum of Natural History Metco bogrephy of.) tam Uarper eases aacologist of Polynesia. by E, Allison Kay and William J% Clench Dec, 30th 1975 PartI, A Biography of Willlam Harper Pease, &, Allison Kay Pease is an all too little known figure of those mid«ninteenth century conchologists, who made a very significant contribution to our knowledge of the Pacific mollusca, Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1824 he arrived in Hawaii in late 1849 and lived there as a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii till his early death in 1871, Most of the available biographical material on Pease is of necessity der- ived from his correspondence, much of which is deposited in the Academy of Natura} Sciences of Philadelphia, The Pease Collection which represents much of his work during his residence in Hawaii is deposited at the Muscum of Comparitive Zoology at Harvard University. Part II, Catalogue of Species and Bibliography of William Harper Pease, by Willlam J Clench A listing of the many names introduced by Pease in the Phylum Mollusca, together with a list of his publications from 1848 thru 1872 and several publications relating to the species etc, he introduced, Some 500 species are attributed to him, which cover land and marine mollusca from the entire Pacific Ocean Basin, Many of his species were self-collected though a very large number were obtained from his long-time friend Andrew Garrett whose trips were in part sponsored by Pease, Cowries by Dr, John Taylor and Jerry G7 Walls, TFH Publications, Inc, 2ll West Sylvania Ave, , Neptune City , New Jersey 07753 This book is a new venture for a publishing company which has, till now, specialized in books about Tropical Fish and other Pet Animals; I hope it is a har- binger of more good things to come, Dr, Taylor's contribution to the book is called "' The Livine Cowry"” and deals with the living animal and with the history of the Family Cypridae, This section is illustrated with many fine color photographs of living cowries with the mantles etc, clearly shown, For the beginning collector and for the more advanced as well there is much to learn from this bighly concentrated discussion, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 16 i & Mr, Walls deals with the collector's interests: ina section of photographs of all of the species of Cypraea which he recognises, ( That's not a knock on Mir, Wails since every three cowry collectors can easilly produce eight lists of valid Cypraea species, to which he subscribes,) On every page there's a dorsal and a ventral view of each cowry witha short description of each, Vhe photographs are, on the whole, quite good ( Though I for one do not tike the flattened underwater look) the color repro- duction though, is some what inconsistant, Iam bewhildered by the organization of the illustrations, there seems to be none, not taxonomic, alphabetical, geographical or any other pattern is apparent, That's not to gay that this renders the whole work useless, but, it does hamper one's efforts to make the most efficient use of it, Included with the book is an Identi-Chart which is printed ona special paper for field use; the photographs are grouped on this chart by similarity of shape or oof color pattern, Ihtink that the concept ofa field identification chart is a good one, but, it would seem that the whole idea of that should be to put the species most reason- ably associated in one area together; not to put such combinations as a South African, a Persian Gulf and a Caribbean species cheek-by«jowl with each other, Fortuitously the first five photos in column one and the first three in column two are all South Africar species, The chart is of more value , in my opinion, at one's desk than in one's collecting bucket, Notwithstanding the criticisms I have made I find this is a good book and even a useful one which could have been much improved by organization of the material, It fills the needs of the non-specialized collector of cowries without overloading one's library budget, 7h Secretary/ Treasurer 3 Editor Kathleen Daniels Frank J. Nelson 121 Stephens Lane 95=24 1LOthyStreet ){)) Verona, Pa. 15147 Rich eferg: HLL NY} | re, . SAT | t ft 744 t\ ‘J 1} | jLYy ae § 21419 Ss \ ly if CONTENTS Speaking Out F. Nelson fifi) MUSEUM LibRAt Shades of Puka, etc, F, Nelson Book Collectors Note Shell Collector's Field Note Book F, Nelson, H, Bernhart Order Form for 'The Miters of the World '' Geriatric Shells from Florida L, Nelson Mala cological Society of China, Application Pane! Diagram of the Post-Avon Rocks of Central Florida Conchologists of America Convention in Portland Bill Bledsoe, President Minutes of the C,O.A, Convention Business wireeting Kathe Daniels Treasurer's Report: June 30th 1976 Kathe Daniels Program of the 1976 Annual Convention The Bookfinder F.& L, Nelson Dates of the 1977 Annual Convention Back Issues of Bulletin for Saie Kathe Daniels or POR a a ge Speaking out Frank J. Nelson I had intended to write a long editorial, perhaps decrying the amount of work that's involved in the production of the Bulletin, I might have patted myself on the back for the inclusion of more of my own art work, maps and drawings, Or even on how important I consider things like the Field Note Book concept which is featured in this issue, BUT!! --- This is my editorial for this issue: In issue #6 we included a Bye Law/ Constitution Vote issue form to be “submitted to the Secretary so that all of the membership might participate in the democratic processes by which it was felt that we should operate, having a voice in the rules of COA, Ihada letter from Kathe Daniels just after the convention ended: she had received exactly ONE ballot in the mail, Lee's and mine!!! Enough said, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 2 SHADES OF PUKA, etc, In a Paleolithic site at Sagvarjile, Georgian SSR dug by N.2Z% Kiladze in 1952 approximately twenty perforated fossil marine shells ( Turritella duplicata Zinne) were found ina closed circles suggesting that they had been threaded as a necklace, These were found associated with stone and bone tools, The shells were shown by laboratory examination to have been perforated by two different methods; by scraping through and by sawing through, The scrap- ing method was done by pressing hard at the point to be perforated with a flint instru- ment ( called a Burin) each successive application of pressure left: a small cut 1 - 3 mm long by 0,33 - 0,50 mm deep which was repeated tilla hole of the required size was made, The sawing method, which will only work when using either hollow cylinders or cones! ( suchas a shell), makes a groove by the friction of a rough edged flint chip tool and the hole is subsequently enlarged by ae a second groove parallel to the first, Perforated by Sawing Method Perforated by Scraping Method a ce Re ee a te ee ee et eR Re: nn te $a me Oe OE BOOK COLLECTORS LISTED FREE: In the forthcoming International Directory of Book Collectors, Just send a note listing your name and address together with a description of your collecting interests to: TRIGON PRESS (Ref BE) , 117? Kent House Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 LJJ , England, there is no charge for the listing. Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 3 | Since the Bulletin has as one of it's main goals the exchange of material relative to collecting shells by the members of COA this issue is featuring a series of pages from a field notebook kept by a friend of mine who moved to Austraila Since the Bulletin has as one of it's main goals the exchange of material relative to collecting shells by the members of COA; this issue is featuring a series of pageea from the field notebook kept by a Friend of mina who moved with his family, to Australla in 1971, Horst and I had worked together here in the States for several years, and when he left here we had agreed to continue to exchange shells and shelling information, After he had been there for several months Horst made Xerox copies of his field book, these were of the few pages which represented the preliminary surveys that were made during his first few months there, What Horst has done with this note book system is to take the first step in doing the ong thing that the amateur in any field can do as well as the professional can, and that is to observe accurately and with care, Any collector who goes out into the field to collect his own specimens owes it to himself to do the kind of hard, detailed work that will lift his efforts above the level of accumulating material, When visiting a new area, make this a rule: observe the whole area, see which kinds of terrain or of shore condition are Most productive of the kinds of specimens you are looking for based on previous success you Might have had ( you'll be unlikely to find bivalves in the desert areas or nudi- branchs in fresh water, etc.), if you are not looking for one single family or even a single species, make note of the type of ground, food supply, and shelter etc,, associated with each species that you either collect or cbserve, If this area is to be visited again continued note keeping will Make it possible to follow the life history of which ever species inhabit that particular locality You'll be able to learn enough about your local species to be able to utilize that information to locate species with equivalent ecological nitches in other areas to which you might subsequently be trav- elling. You Might bave made an observation about feeding habits either to look for similar habitats or even use baiting moathods as a result of your new-found expertise, John Phillipsf has noted that he has been successful in collecting Nassarius Mendicus ( Gould, 1849} by using "a slightly overeaged "fish carcass on the bottom then wait- ing for the critters to crawl over to have a mealand collecting the specimens he wants This method will work with all of the Nassariidae siace they're all scavengers, Anotl friend once told me about his Olive catching system, he has a special trap made from an open topped bamboo basket with a turned in top; this is baited with some rather high fish and sunk over a sandy bottom in the evening and raised the next day; usual- ly with more than enough specimens to satisfy his needs any time, Now that many people are turning to marine aquaria to be able to keep and to observe the living animals which produce the shells that we collect, the field note - | book, with its observations, will be a big help in keeping and rearing specimens | perhaps through several generations, You'll have seen the feeding behavior and | the food preferences of the especies which you're attempting to keep alive and thriving- Conchologists of “meric Retletin 7 Page 4 and will not have lost-them to impropar dict or conditions of fe, In general any , animal well kept in captivity will frequently breed, just imagine the delight you'll have at becoming the foster parent of » family of mollusks. George and Dorothy Raethie of The New York Shell Club have bean raising Florida marine molluscs through Many generetions hers on Long Island and have made many valuable obser- vations on the life habits and breeding periods of Many Molluske which could not be studied any other way than {i 4 home tank, George has even hand trained a Strombus alatus Gmelin !79i to take algee collected in New York, when offered from his hand, The field book will also be an invaluebla ald when preparing labels for your collection «all pertainent information on collecting localitiss should be Msted in the field book and on the label, In the cage of certain land or tree snails distances As sMall as one half Mile can have great importance, in placea for which good maps are not readilly availabie use the distance from aome well recognised landmark and the direction in which that distance ia ‘nuasured, thia will pinpoint the, collecting site, , ‘Whenever possible, the label should be written in the fleld at the time the specimen is prepared, Any replacing of temporary labels by Inter permanent ones is a potential source of error, **** All essential data should be recorded on the original labels, Dnata recorded in a field book are frayuently overlooked and may be unavailable lf the collection is divided, The original lsbel ahould never be repl- aced by 4 Musautn label, A certain nutther of Mistakes are always Made in the ighaebhetey li a in dacheai pre aem is dealred, it should pe added to the original label," ave eenee Eg. Gorton Linsiey, and Robert L, Usinger, Methods and Principles of Systematic Zoclogy, McGraw-Hill Book Co,,Inc, 1953 p 65, STrtaig Swe Hamnove N3W 0.7 fofon: Kew Spoway 2 te Py Daas 2 Foe hairy Bry Fa*r. SO UIE L hy tala Hh wird Bea cr, ( Warer free ny SHeec erase, SANMDSTOAME, Fear aour- : S60 yanws our Ferd Serio we, i 4 i PA oe 4.4 RAGHA ON TM ET TKS 308 if ee Pou TRAC Swore Lwe Fawt Posts theprits Odyusa ly « FUNG Too Sivtes ) | : j Nene Lor: Stometeceg pvsercara ( Stasrap Stoma teen) 4 } 4 C Stapen Pe tito mace } a —. , (Top Sas) Fag! Limprry Co t Bt aerwe Manu “ew Atouruns tne) ce ee ne te ee me eh es ; , ; o Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 | Page a a sd re) | = “ ~ a = « . ‘ o W 7 : Li paTS ; Baim Beacy 4 “ahd Atiwa Vere Bemec oj ‘ ' 5 a aco 7, a sth ¢ Wore il : $s: 4 3 a DIET oo Syuwe y rors ; \, 20, Vowre on Sy pare y = ayyibere re & x é RE: x 3 FE ON ES SR NE OE es a | Magevw Barter th wrpry ar SAwsy Meer, ‘a Gioe Sete mens (M Poor Pee, Ovugw Wwed F Coredérwurs , Denes es | r a Sem eT cu Neen) 3102, Bur Faw m kumace, Bartersisony aes WASP AD SULA, ¢ ; ‘ . wTronG Coeeanr § Tine. Keewcrs oh Somes ime AsS Carr Frey Fx 20, ONLY Stop 1, OOK & Yer } #). Pe COR AUMAFP ge Fuwsmars YORE ty = r Vaemnry of hinsyrrs Fitus CArrows " Bey Brey nes Ad br jvry " bn oot gh Ts . be ne ae » ae Biome AMG ITE ¢ nem top PHP ELS, ORR PR EE A I Sk EE RR ET TEE SS EE RE ER hors OE OR ES SR ES AAS a rr a eR a PO er sae fs eR oe (ee TY Re AR Mt aN SRY rar et hota BEL Pr ee cS el AE IT a LAI PER ee na OEE eA eee ERE Oe | Gronuig Beaciy New ieoer Besser. 16 9, Sours oF Seepase av SP Dp Movers oe J ypiey Long, Fists, Pocny ow Sour Ste, Suneow (MEINE OF SANDY Stopes rg By = Me IM Cee FC Oot QA ree Ta Sean hbo Spec roe eps A Segeg cebiP ke (Evrceer !, Som Arowma Aanricnn cs), fur Op rcmans POUND Commmenet/ vas Joo DB VAMIET yf oF Speernens Borwv Wo « - TIDE CAME Abreris © Soupu fups on Tweet Bev On” Fre PForrs Beans MI wr CASC LAF ED Shas CAVE S ae Ped BADE Tep Ores Linn rs Ovrom s Quer Kor espns ora) rE ES T RE te ch ep Se gt on te na ee RNS Re FA nee ee Conchologists of America Bulletin 7) Page § | “Ge a | i fine Ture of Syawey Soe | | + | Pra ayy Beacy SS am Smeccey Beacy (4 . pn vor Frtverr Sorey Morersy ‘ \ Very LTLA SBWwD Rocry Swormmcwe Jory , Fear BAC, BOUTH, MotKy Sor e ' Qeot VARIETY OF Britis, Whi Patoracred ‘ ‘ W/ doors , Goon VA rere Ty oe SPC meas $1933 tw Psoes Bor Ravan Sune lmeraruee Sweccs Asres cocuien Ca Cups ot tag foe (Sore rer sy Te Sees) | | | lUASHAD Us? Ow Beacn. | Isr Ee. fart Fe; Tyee CEuecgaur Top ) smrnm ec | O8tuse (Zeann Fas Sree Mérenropoum Asecesa (uc Sponrep Top J P Barrare;um As FAL Uo CB emer TRouvrwes Lh aie + ost reacocw sar CONCHA FO ITB C Fon Laat 9-8) | jor ) | Limpers ‘ OaTuss ( Le casees Top ) | | Si PHA Ms ceiton SLPTEM Tit pew es (lume Sto as Zimprrs - a } | Ghirow ) Dicostuwarys Oremsesrn (Ciree Kurs Ben Bicsum ASD AILEED Oe rien Pes tH 8D lux ) f ae I Fatesnunrae Carson Ais bs hia sen Beno ILEM PS rv, Krtcew Syouwsry Me rer Tne breoven Syoue y Seuret (Hae dorp ) 59 eng “Decry Coven Sacre UF, ’ , OY FLAT Grade, Arerecaut CombBsrrvas oe Lmoers ¥ ANEVOUTRS SCUTrA S:10e WAS fou’ MIG RBC "476.8, Jouo L997 0% Seq AID foamy OU a Sper ae re 4 r 2] C£A BECAUSE OK Reoeny Woretaeswr F Peers, Louse A, MS VOT TIO gone SATE IAIG CUT ABOU sa yniees, Spaecimanus Whe MeorecTEN Few ! Dice re0993 Fivony Rouge Sr oer Cer Mordeyeee ) laf sy) ' d BS Wek To FAC Fors tr ow, Wun delet DENTS CPB Ee ay Sigeee ) ! Siem He cwrrow Se pray Ttrovas ree Seva Ori reas Loy ‘ Cccaur LAPPY COS TRI Fag Citar Lerner) { Loy ' Nopyes rover PY re ow Devas se Cha A043 08 Qraite ) a Cunua rmrinteserien (Coton puns tees 7 i Limpaers tor ' Meus werttn Are mrurose (Back Meters J " Semarerum AAA AO wey Bren PP oe 8d Crip) ent ee ee; on EE OE ee Cocex ern Freche Mas tBook : | | Preorsuw freon. Al Basunaer | i ; ‘ ie ee a ee ee ener eth noe etna OE ei AEE EC CEGY 8 at OT SN CE RRR NNT RAN On * 1 POA Conchologists of America Bulletin 7? Page 7 INDO-PACIFIC MOLLUSCA Eclitor: A. Tucker Abbott _ THE MITERS Or THE WORLD ' by Walter 0. Cernohorsky Now being printed and to be mailed September 28, 1976, is this largest number of Indo-Pacific Mollusca: Part 1, the Mitrinae of the World. 256 pages, 2198 plates, with 152 shells in beautiful color, including photographs of living Mitra. Sold at manufacturing cost. Only $20.48 (8 cents a page). This is the definitive monograph series serving malacologists and private collecters alike. Babylonia and Rhinoclavis are scheduled for late 1977. SUBSCRIBERS: Your copy is being held until the publication date. Save $2.00 in postage and handling costs by sending your check now to: DELAWARE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Box 3937, Greenville, Delaware [S807 USA. (> oom Ont ee et ee ED Gee ee eee ae ee ee me ee res SW ee re Oe ee em ee Dr. R, Tucker Avhot! is chairman of a committee to raise funds tor the purchase of a 93mm gem specimen of Conus gloriamaris which will be donated to | the shell coliection of the Smithsonian Institution as a bicentennial gift from : American shell collectors, Your tax deductible contributions will make this | gift possible, Checks should be made payable to the Delaware Museum of Natural History and sent directly to Dr. HR. Tucker Aboott, PO Box 3937, Greenville, Delaware 19807. Donations exceeding the purchase price of the C, gloriamaris will be given to the Smithsonian for the purchase of other shelis for their collection, i During last year's COA Convention at Virginia Beach, Mary Palmer invited | my husband and J to go fossilling with her on our next trip to Florida, an invitation that we were finally able to accept this May, We knew, of course, that the LaBelle pits had been closed to the public and that we'd be going to a different spot. Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 4 This spot turned out to be near Sarasota, which meant that we would have to leave Pompano Beach on Friday morning, drive to Sarasota for an afternoon of fos- silling and return on Saturday, witha side trip to Venice Beach on Saturday to hunt for fossil shark teeth, The news that we first must equip ourselves with hard-hats was a bit unnerving. But to learn that we would be leaving at the uncivilized hour of 6AM came asa real shock! Me, get up at5 AM, when we hadn't gone to bed till midnight the previous night? Never!! Well, hardly ever, We did manage to slither out of bed and pour down en- ough black coffee to get at least one eye open, and we wore waiting outside by 6 o! colck when Mary drove up, accompanied, t our pleasant surprise, by 'Big Mama'"' Phyllis Welling, The fact that we knew Phyllis from a trip to Haiti several years ago should have preparad us, The drive to Sarasota was rather uneventful if one could discount the black clouds that were gathering overhead and an occasional sprinkle of light rain. But after arriving there, we first had to present ourselves at the company's main office, about five miles from the pits, and request permission to collect fossils on their property, Obtaining the mining rights to Ft, Knox might have been a little easier, We had to show them that we did indeed have hard-hats and sign releases absolving the company from any responsibility in the event of accident or injury. Armed with photocopies of the release ( to be presented at the gate to the pit) and with hard-hats jammed stylishly on our heads, we were off to the accompanyment of a light but steady rain. Oh well, what's a little rain? At least it wouldn't be un- bearably hot, ' After passing the last check point, where we presented the copy of the rel- ease and again prove that we were protected by hard-hats, we were at last admitted to the ‘Inner Sanctum" and the pita stretched out endlessly before us, There, half buried in the dirt and peeping out at us frorn every direction, were milliona of fossils! After a few minutes of trying to grab everything in sight, we settled down to being somewhat more selective, Unfortunately, all that the rain had done so far was to increase the humidity and make it hot, steamy and slippery. While we were trying to dig out fossils, we constantly had to wipe perspiration and rain from our eyes, ave taxlone run-away colle ecting geay, hats and specimens, and try to maintain a safe footing in the loose, uneven soil that was slowly turning to mad, As we stumbled, siid, and fell up and down those steep mounds, we must have resembled a third rate tumbling and juggling ‘team, Initially the rain was light and intermittent with an occasional heavy burst that sent us running for the car, but it finally got it's act together and became a steady deluge. However, we knew that the pits would not be poen on Saturday, and any collecting would have to be done that day or not atall. Anyway we were already soaked to the skin and couldn't possibly get any wetter no matter how hard it might rain, Then, any doubts that remained vanished when we chanced on several mounds of freshly dug earth, a fresh, untouched area where the shells were being exposed by | the torrential rain! ‘ Concholagists of America Bulletin 7 By now it had become quite windy and chilly, and Phyllis was trying unsucces -~ fully to protect herself with an umbrella while I was running around in Mary's rubber - ized poncho looking like a tent about to take off ina gale, There was much good- natured kidding ‘rom the men who were still working in the pits as they watched us dashing madly finding our treasures, attempting to light soggy cigarettes with wet matches and sliding down the hills on our backsides with a handfull of muddy fossils cradled carefully against our bodies, No doubt they were simply humoring these fools who had obviously taken leave of their sanity, Four o'clock came at last « closing time at the pits - and while we weren't actually thrown out, we were pointedly reminded that it was now time to leave, Now we faced a new problem, What half-way respectable motel would accept four such disreputable looking creatures? So we spent about a half hour sitting in the car trying to think of a believable story and arguing over which of us would be the least likely to cause a panic if he or she went in to register, Much to our surprise they found the truth quite interesting and were more than happy to let us have rooms for the night. Across the parking lot from our rooms, the rain ( which had now stopped) left a fair gized lake where we were able to rinse off some of the mud and we set about cleaning ourselves and our gear before going into the rooms, Phyliis picked up Mary's muddy sneakers from the floor of the car and tossed them across the park- ing lot into the puddle along with all of the other things, No one will ever know what went through Mary's mtind when she saw her sneakers floating in the puddle because she had very carefully placed a rare, prized specimen in her sneaker for safe keep- ing. And, no one will ever know how Phvilis managed to throw the sneakers across the parking lot and have them right-side-up in the puddle in such a way that the shell did not fall out, The next day we did stop at Venice and collected some fossil shark teeth, then roamed around and did a little fossilling in several other spots, But we spent Friday evening and most of Saturdzy bemoaniny the fact that we could not get back into tha first area and get to all of those shelis that had been uncovered by the rain, The following is a partial list of the sheils that we found in the Sarasota pit, These pits are in the Hawthorne Facies of the Aium Bluff Formation of the Florida Miocene, Some of the specimens are only tentatively identified and others are still unidentified because of a lack of adequate literature, Mary hag no doubt been much more successful and more accurate than we in identifying her specimens, Architectonica nobills ''Bolten" Roeding, 1798 Aurina obtusa { Emrmecens, i858} Bullata taylori ( Olsson, 1916) Busycon canaliculatum Linne! busycon perversum Linne!' Cancellaria rotunda Dall, 1892 Cassis sulcifera Sowerby, 1850 Clava caloosaensis Dall Conus tryoni Heilprin, 1887 Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 10 Crucibulum auriculata Gmelin 1780 Fasciolaria ( Liochlamys ) bulbosa (Hesilprin, 1887) Fasciolaria tulipa lLinne!' Fusus caloosaensis Heilprin Latirus floridanus Heilprin, 1887 Marginella pardalis Dall, i892 Mitra heilprini ( Cossrman ) Murex cf, florifer Reeve, 1846 Murex pomum Gmelin Murex ( Pteronotus ) textilis Gabb, 1873 Oliva (Ispidula ) carolinensis Conrad Olivella lata Dall, 1892 Phallium hodgii Conrad, 1841 Polynices ( Lunatia ) internus Say, 1824 Potamides ( Pyrasinus ) scalatus Heilprin, 1887 Rhinoclavus caloosaensis Dall Scaphella trenholmii ( Tuomay & Holmes, 1851} Sconsia sp. Solenocsteira mengeana Dall, 1890 Strioterebrum cf seminolum Olsson Strombus leidyi Heilprin, 1887 Trophon lepidota (Dall, 1890} Turritella perattenuata Heilprin, 18&7 Vasum horridum Heilprin, 1887 Vermicularia gp. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CHINA TAIWAN MUSEUM. TAIPEL, TAIWAN, CHINA 1. NAME (Pleaso type or print): = 2. SEX: CO M CF 3. NATIONALITY: 4. DATE OF BIRTH: Y M D 5. EDUCATION (Please list last school attended, and highest degree earned): School: Degree: ! 6. OCCUPATION AND POSITION: a | 7. PAST EXPERIENCE OR POSITIONS HELD (Optional): 8. MALLING ADDRESS: Office Home 9. TYPE OF MEMBERSEUP: [7] Ordinary - jj Institutional 10. AREA OF INTEREST: li. PLEASE ENCLOSE YOUR MEMBERSHIP PEER ( [$4.00 Ordinary, | ($8.00 Institutional Datc: Signature: Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 11 Panel Diagram of the Post- Avon Rocks of Central Florida ‘a0’ arse , PIERCE 8200 , | NY Tes eAW (N) | { “ 2 | yf —_——————— td nN e ve J - nas \ Nipeics oF, = , ‘S | a = Ras FACIES - ig ae =, aoe ce Ni | t | Ke 160 Scale ; i = eter ee from : Puri, H.S, and R.O, Vernon Special Publication @5 Florida Geological] Survey, Pensacola », Fila : onchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 12 July, 1976 CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA CONVENTION IN PORTLAND The Conchologists of America recently convened at the great Thunderbird Hotel at Jantzen Beach, Portland, Oregon, for four days of lectures, glide shows, travelegues, climaxed with a grand boat trip up the Columbia Rive r, and a fine bus tour of the Portland Rose Test Gardens, a major treat in themselves, followed by a trip to the Seaside home of our convention chairman, Wayne Stevens, A lovely, scenic beach, great for walking, sunning, or shelling. This was followed by lunch at a local restaurant, and a visit to the Astoria Tower in Astoria, with return to the Thunderbird in the evening. Our weather was generally fair, with cool, invigorating breezes, Our activities were conducted in the meeting rooms of the Thunderbird, and the evening banquet was most enjoyable, followed by a grand shell auction, with Kirk Anders and Tom Rice presiding over the bidding. Over $1,100.00 were received from the auction, I want to thank Wayne and Mirjorie Stevens for their major, eight- month-long efforts, their time, and their enthusiasm, in organizing this great convention. All of the contacting of people, correspondence, and unending details they handled superbly! Our hats off to them!! Their acquisition and awarding of door prizes at intervals throughout the con- vention in the form of lovely shell books were marvelous! Many thanks to Tom Rice for his handling and organizing the daily prograins, including his own fine prozrain of the East African and Indian Ocean Islands. We're glad that you conld stay for the entire convention, Tom! Thanks again, To Kathi Daniels, our secretary - for the yeoman (or yeowornan? ) service these past months, contacting members, correspondence, and the myriad of details involved, many, many thanks! To Tom and Maxine Hale for their generosity and hospitality in their lovely home and garden, and for sharing their beautiful shell display with us, thanks! To the Oregon Society of Conchologzists - my thanks for your par- ticipation in the convention, and for your individual and collective ef- forts in collaborating with the Stevens in making this a great, successful meeting. Let's all look forward to next yeats meet in Florida. of: ee eH i ee he 0 Leal Oe Cues J Bill Bledsoe, President Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page is MINUTES OF THE C,0O.A. CONVENTION BUSINESS MEETING - 1976 The annual business meeting of the fifth convention of the Conchologists of America was called to order by the President, Bill Bledsoe at 10: 05 AM Saturday June 14, 1976 at the Jantzen Beach Thunderbird motor Inn in Portland, Oregon, Bill gave our hosts, the Oregon Society of Conchologists and Wayne Stevens, Convention Chairman and their many helpers whose tremendous efforts made the convention an outstanding success GCOA's 'thanks", The minutes of the last business meeting, held at Virginia Beach in October 1975, were read and approved as was the treasurer's report from that meeting. Under old business, the following by-laws change, proposed in Bulletin 5, page 14 "va3a voted upon and passed: "Be it resolved that the dual office of Secretary/Treasurer be divided and come two separate offices, with one of the positions held by a person from an .itirely different geographic area of the United States than the other," Under new business, the nominating committee chosen by the Prasident - irk Anders, Chairman, Veronica Parker Johns, and Tom Rice presented the follow- sev OL Ottice rs TOF 1s 17s President Sally Bennett, Phoenix, Arizona Vice-President Marjorie Stavans, Portland, Oregon Secretary John Rathbun, Portland, Oregon Treasurer Kathe Daniela, Apollo, Pennsylvania the slate was unanimously accepted by the mambership. The following convention invitations were presented: a lettax from Martin Lerner of the Long Island Shell! Club offering to host next year's convention was read by the President and an invitation from the Broward Sheli Club in Ft, Lauder- cale, Florida was presanted by Kirk Anders, The merits of both areas ware discussed, It was generally felt, that with AMU being held in midsJuly in Naples,Fla,, COA should be held the following week and that Ft, Lauderdale would be more easilly acce- ssible for those wishing to attend both conventions, A motion was made by Wayne Stevens and seconded by Joe, Maxwell to hold the 1977 Convention in Ft, lauderdale end that our thanks be sent to the Long Island Club with the hope that their invitation would be open for 1978, the motion wag unanimously accepted, Kirk Anders was appointed Convention Chairman, A discussion of selecting a nominating committee several months in advance of the annual meeting followed with a majority approving a motion made by Wayne Gtevene and seconded by John Rathbun 'that not less than two (2) months prior to the convention a nominating committee shall be appointed by the president, This nomin- ating committee shall then solicit suggestions from the membership for officers for ‘ie ensuing year and such nominees can then be contacted for their assurance that chey would accept the nomination and would be in attendance at the meeting, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page i4 The allocation of surplus funds in the treasury prompted a discussion, Joel Greene proposed their use for scholarships and/or other similar projects, Kathe Daniels stated that with our $ 3,00 membership fee barely covering the printing and mailing costs of the Bulletins, the annual Auction remains our major source of income and we may not always havea surplus, John Rathbun, Wayne Stevens, and Clair Stahl each emphasized the need, based on their other club experiences, to maintain a 'nesteegp''to Cover unexpected expenditures, Clair stated that a minimum of $ 5000.00 is needed to invest to back the studies of a graduate student, A motion was made by Jerry. Ward, seconded by Kirk Anders and unanimously passed that a five member committee be formed to studv a "building fund" for sucha project, This committee is to report at the 1977 Convention, Tom Rice moved a vote of thanks to Marjorie and Wayne Stevens and the Oregon Society of Conchologists, seconded by Kathe Daniels and Unanitously accep- ted by the membership. George Buchinoff requested that we write our Congressmen urging that the U.S, publish a series of shells on our postage stamps, A plea for articles for the Bulletin was made by Clair Stahl and Tom Hale expressed the hope for increased growth in the organiazztion and Bulletin, possible only thru membership participation and contributions , Next year's officers were introduced to the membership, The business meeting then ended with the move to adjournment made by Tom Rice, seconded and approved by all present, Kathleen K, Danieis, Secretary TREASURER'S REPORT: June 30th 1976 Balance 31 December 1975 ¢ 1636.93 Receipts ; Dues 354,00 Auction 1148 ,00 Back Issues Bulletins (Sales) 24,90 Convention Registrations 1873,00 3399.9 $ 5036.83 Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 15 Expenses ; Bulletins 263,65 Postage 91,02 Stationary . 85.05 Convention Expenses 1871.17. Misc, Expenses 13.57 2324.46 Balance $ $ 2712,37 Current Memberships 147 Kathleen K, Daniels, Treasurer Program of 1976 Annual Convention of Conchelogists of America Thursday June 17th 1976 8; 30 to Ll: 00 Registration li: 30 Luncheon in the Yumatilla Room. Welcome by President Bill Bledsoe Welcome by Convention Chairman Wayne Stevens Clare Stahl ; An Introduction to the Pacific Northwest ls 20 Kirk Anders ¢ Past COA Conventions 2: 00 Film: Two from the Sea 22: 50 Joel Greene : Shell Freaks, Monsters, & Color Variations 4: 15 James Tobin: Underwater Marine Life Friday June 18th 1976 vig bile Dr. Sutolo : Shells on Stamps 2 10: 00 Jerry Ward: Dredging for Shells 10; 50 Jim White : The Oregon Coast and Some of the Marine Invertebrates Found There Lis 20 Film: Dancing Invertebrates | 1305 William E, Bledsoe: Beautiful Shells | l; 50 Sally Bennett : Shelling at Bahia de los Angeles, | . Baja California 2 50 Kirk Anders : Bonaire, Caribbean Treasure Chest 32 45 James S, White : So You want to Write a Shell Book 73 30 Annual Banquet, followed by ANNUAL, SHELL AUCTION Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 16 Saturday June 19th 1976 9: 05 Kirk Anders : Shelling in West Africa 10; 00 Tom Rice : Mauritius, madagascar and the Comoro Islands of East Africa 10: 50 ' Business Meeting 1; 00 to I: 30 © Departure of hoat trip up the beautiful Columbia River Gorge : Sunday June 20th 1976 os JU Depart for tae Oregon Coast by bus, ie “Bock finder PACIFIC mARINE LIFE; A’Survey of Pacific Ocean Invertebrates, DeLuca, Charles J,, and Diana Macintire DeLuca, Charles E, Tuttle Company Rutland, Vermont 05701 $2.75 (Paperback) This small book is a very basic introduction to various topics on marine invertebrates particularly of the Pacific Ocean, The text is for the general reader and was developed from a series of phamphlets published for the Waikiki Aquarium as visitor guides, In converting these pamphlets to paperbook size the quality of the illustrations suffered in becoming somewhat indistinct. EN NEW ZEALAND SEASHELIS IN COLOUR, Penniket, J.R. and G.J.H. Moon,., A,H, & A.W, Reed, Distributed in the United States by Charles E, Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont 05701 $ 8,50 This short book is a photographic essay to introduce the general reader to the diverse molluscan fauna of New Zealand, As a means of persenting those Bivalves and Gastropods most likely to be picked up by the visitor to the New Zealand shore, Mr, Moon's photographs and Mr, Penniket's text combine very well, The names used for the species illustrated are the common names current in New Zealand, though the binomial names ( less attribution to author) are also included, The mollusks of New Zealane do not include representation in several of the most popular families, and many collections have no sheils from these South Pacific Islands, The authors did not attempt to produce a complete illustrated faunal study of the New Zealand Islands ~ which would be a project far beyond the scope and purpose of this volume, They did accomplish their stated aims and have produced an introduction which can be expanded upon by the reader's own efforts, EN Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 SHELLS OF NEW GUINEA AND THE CENTRAL INDO-PACIFIC ~ Hinton, Alan, published by Charies E, Tuttle Co,, Inc, Rutland, Vt, $12.50 | The author has included Maps of his subject area as wellas some general information on collecting, cleaning, classification and dispiay, but this is princip- ally.a book for the identification of shells from the central Indo-Pacific area, And since this is undoubtedly the single most highly productive area in the world for shelis, almost every collector finds himself , sooner or later, searching for more authoritative and up-to-date literature on shells from this part of the world, Alan Hinton's book qualifies on both counts, Shells of New Guinea and the Central Indo-Pacific is a recent book, published ‘by another company in 1972 and then, in the U.S. by Charles E, Tuttle Co,,Inc, in 1975, Mr Hinton was able to incorporate into this bouk most of the latest informat- ion on classification and taxonomy, Inaddition to being a very experienced collector and cone specialist, he has been much involved in the field of systematics in recent years, The color pilates in this book are certainly of above average quality and are conveniently placed opposite the text, thereby eliminating the need for the reader to be constantly thumbing through the book in search of one or the other, Frequently there are photographs of more than one specimen ofa given species, often with color varieties, geographical variations or juveniles illustrated as well. Because the author is a specialist in cones, the section on this family is expectably large, It is preceeded by an informative description of cones in general with emphasis on the feeding habits, the venom apparatus, and the collecting and handling of cones, Since Alan Hinton has been assisting researchers in the venom- ology of cones, it is a subject on which he is well qualified to speak, This ig a book that I think every shell collector should have, but one which no cone collector can afford to ke without, In my own personal experience, it has proved to be one of the most valuable, most convenient, and most frequently used books in my shell Hbrary. | In the four years since the book's original publication, one hears the expression ‘look it up in Hinton'' more and more frequently, This reference to the author rather than to the title, would seem to indicate that Mr, Hinton ( and consequently his work) is acheiving the respect and recognition that is accorded to Reeve, Keiner, Pilsbry, and other 'yreats''in the field, Conchologists of America Bulletin 7 Page 1A The sixth annual C,O.A, convention will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the 20th thru 23rd of July 1977, witha field trip scheduled for the 24th, AMU will be meeting in Naples, Fla, July 10th thru 15th, Kirk Anders will furnish additional details as they become available. BB OPEL TOR (5 CHULD Rete eT a a Fair, Ruth H., Cnarles BE, Tuttle Co., Inc, , Rutiand, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan, $ 8,50 : : _ This is a small, well-written, liberally illusrtated book that is packed with useful information on all aspects of shell collecting, It is not a book of pretty pict. ures, nor is it a book for shell identification, It iy a practical lesson in do-iteyour. self collecting, And although there is a heavy emphasis on collecting in Hawaii, most of the information is basic and applicable anywhere inthe world, Mrs, Fair has drawn on her collecting experiences over many years and in many different areas to bring the reader tips on collecting, cleaning and storing shelis as well as sections on laws and regulations, equipment, dangers, first-aid, snorkeling and acuba diving, dredging and night collecting, Of course, the experienced collector will already have learned much of this the hard way, but the beginner wili find this book invaluable. The traveler planning a collecting trip to Hawaii would find this book indispen- sible also, It quite literally Supplies a 'road map''to the shells, Ina separate sectu ion of the book, the author takes the reader ona trip around the island of Oahu, sect. ion by section, with maps of each area and tips on exactly where to iook and what to look for, She also gives helpful information on how to reach inaccessible spots, what dangers ( such as strong currents) one might encounter in specific spots, etc,, Tf have never seen a more precise and detailed account of where, when, and how to find the shells, In my opinion, this book: should be a 'must" in every shell collector's library, It can save the inexperienced collector much time, disappointment and frustration and put him well on the road to being a successful, knowledgeable and happyir lect» or, But the veteran collector as weil should find this book a welcorne addition, If he finds an idea for just one new too) or cleaning method that solves a problem then the book will have been well worth it's modest price, § Kathe Daniels has the following back issues of the Bulletin for sale: # 1 0.50 ea, 2 0,50 " 3 0,60 " 4 0,50 8 a Wrame] ta 6 0,75 "' (second printing ) She will also supply complete sets at $3,00 . ¥ £ 2, The Conchologists of America“Bulletin Secretary/ Treasurer | Editor Kathleen Dantels Frank J. Nelson 121 Stephens Lane 95-24 110th Street Verona, Pa. 15147 Nitto ee N.Y. 11419 YoY) 4007 FC éJ & ered CONTENTS FIELD MUSEUM LIBRARY Speaking Out Frank J, Nelson Page 2 ' Shell Collecting in an Ecologically Enlightened Era Robert H, Janowsky Page 3 The Bookfinder Frank J, Nelson Page 5 A letter from The President of Conchologists of America Sally Bennett Page .1l tae od DON'T FORGET OUR ANNUAL CONVENTION IN FLORIDA W rite to the Convention Chairman Kirk Anders for details, For those of you who know Mr, Frank Abbottsmith of Australia, and in particular those who have seen his slide programs of his collection will be interested to know that his collection is being offered for sale by Mail Auction, Frank has completed his work on Multiform Australian Volutes and the collection on which this work (available from Mr, John A, Webb, 27132 Butternut Ridge Road, N, Olmatead, Ohio 44070) was based is now baing disposed of, Thore are 1255 Lots involved in this auction and it it expensive for Mr, Abbottsmith to pro- duce additional copies of this ten page Hat, If youare interested, and have not gotten your own, please try to make arrangements to borrow a copy or try to get a Xerox copy to use, The bidding will close on Sept, 30th 1977 and there is a minimum of five day lag in getting mail from the US to Australia even by Air Mail so be sure that any bide that you are sending get in the post before Sept. 20th to be sure, er eer w ee te Va ge f Speaking out Frank J. Nelson This {asue of the Bulletin will be the last to come out under My Editor- ehip, I have submitted my resignation to take effect as soon as this issue is in the mail, There are two sete of reasons for my decision, the first concerns only my wife and me and our available time to devote to the large amount of work which Iam required to devote to the production of the Bulletin, the second reason, 2n the other hand, concerns each of you, and I feel that you are entitled to an explanation, During the entire history of the Bulletin I have received THREE unsolicited articles for inclusion in it, One of these articles appears below. For the rest it was necessary that I wheedle,cajole or browheat from sevaral people all of the mater. jal which it did not fall on my shoulders to write, This necessitated a great deal of reading of material for review, not always the kind of reading material that I would have chosen for my own pleasure or edification, It further necessitated my attempts to produce what I felt would be an exemplary publication; with illustrations, witha reaponsible point of view regarding book reviews, and with material which would inform and mako the reader aware of things which might broaden their collecting horizons, | Perhaps my statement of policy regarding the Editorial Platform to be taken by me; which I used as Speaking Out in the first Bulletin: intimidated many of you. Did my rather strong antipathy to poetry by non-poets put you off? Is my violent blas against a schoolchild cribbing articles from Encyclopedia Britannica or some similar standard reference text something with which you disagree? Whom. ever my successor ia I hope that you will not carry these feelings forward to him (or her), The degree of apathy which all of you showed in the voting issue - has been mirrored by the lassitude which has boen shown toward the subMission of articles to the Bulletin, I have editorialized from day-one about the participation which is aba- olutely necessary, in fact imMperitive, to have from every one ifa publication is to represent fairlycall of the Members of an organization, . I did not chose to take 'the easy way out ''by simply copying articlea from other shell club publications and other relevant perfodicals juat to f1ll pages. In fact My wife, Les, rewrote several of her own articles which had firat appeared in Tha New York Shell Club Notes before they were included in the Bulletin, With the usual club news paper it is frequently used as a place in whicha great deal of Hneags is run concerning the activities of the mem- bers of that clab, that, I feel] is quite appropriate only to cluba of limited geographical spread, Itook, instead, the attitude that sucha personality reporting or social news point of view wag not ger™Mane toa nation-wide bulletin; perhaps that is just the sort of newe that should have been included, In closing this laat editorial I should like to extend my thanks, most aincere- ly, to the officers of C.O,A, both past and progent for the confidence they have shown in my selection of material for the Bulletin as well as for the complete lack of inter- ference by them with respect to any editorial stand J have taken, To the rest of the mambership I moat earnestly plead that whatover faults have bean mine in my steward. ship of your Bullatin, you will not carry my pullt over te my successor, and that you will extend all of the support to which ha/she is entitled, PLAGE ROH HUE PATTON EB TEN ) BEL CY CII 7 AED YES EIEN LY REO PRT POE EI SATB 9 CDEP RII REPEAT EOC Shell Collecting in an Ecologically Enlightened Era by Robert H, Janowsky hagg The article below ts loosely based on romarka mado by me ina aympos - jum entitled "Shell Conservation- The Rape of the Reaf "on June 19th 1976 at the Oceane Festival '76 at The New York Acytarlum, Brooklyn, New York, The sym- posium was chaired by Dr, R. Tucker Abbott, Shalling ta against the law in California, Shelling is prohibited tn Reunion, Shelting is banned in certain parts of Guadeloupe and Martinique, F,W.I, There is & planned move to hive Harps costata, Cinne, 1758 placed on the U.S, Government liat of officially endangered speciaa, Shall collectors are blamed for the destruction of portions of Australia’s Great Rarrior Reef, The Ust gosa onand on. Area after area is closed to the shal) collector by faderal and local government authorities in all parts of the world ina typically over-reaactive mannar baged ona false and illogically directed 'awareness"' of the need to protect all that nature provides from the grasp 0f nature's most vicious predator (us), It atrikes meas rather strange that both men and mollusks have co-existed rather peacefully on this globe for millions of yearar without the ald of environmental legislation, Archeological digs alao point out the fact that man, for almoat ag long as he has been around, has beena shell collector and has used shalls as ‘bjecta of design, as a medium of exchange, aa utilitarian objects etc., . . During that per- aid of tima it is impossible to name one specias of shell that has been made extinct by over-collecting, Myriad spacies have bean made extinct - do not got me wrong - but I atresa, not by over collecting! Polution is the culprit, One ofl apill - »ne new sewage outlet ~- toxic chemicals dumped in the oceana and in fresh water - thoreare your killers! As long as we allow auch practices to continue unchecked, and in most parts of the world, is it not futile to ban shell collecting, Any of the above items can do more damage ina day than the most thorough shell collectora turned loose ona Molluscan species for an indefinate period of time, Weare shell collectoras, We havea code of ethics that we follow, We do not collect imperfect specimens or juvantle sapacimens., We only collect énough specimens to Mest our immediate needs, Wa do not deatroy the habitat of our shelle, Polution on the other hand aperatern by no shch code and blindly kills shella, eggs, environment andall. Itis, of course, far easter to place tha blame on shell coll- ectors who do havea very immediate and visible impact on the environ™ent, Pollution operates ina far More clandastine Manner - it's effects are not immediately evident and it is far More difficult to place the blama, Thus shell collectors are serving as a scapegoat, Conchologista of Amecica Pualtetiny Bo. Page4 Tam gure that Moat of you roading this will reMoMberthe hue and cry thai wag raised several] years ago whena sudden population blooal™ of the Crown-of- Thorns atarfish destroyed a great deal of coral reef in the South Pacific, Shell collectors were immediately blamed for this occurance, since they were responsible for sver- collecting Charonja tritonis, Linne, 1758 which was the natural enemy ofthese atar- fish, The fact that the Charonla asems to prefer eating almost anything it ls abls to get over the starfish was conveniently over-looked and is now almost forgotten, Tha fact that thia wag a natural phenomenon ( the increase of the starfish and the decrease of the Charonia) which had been noted before was given little notice. It was those "damned shell collectora'"' who were killing the reefs and the news media made aure that everyone knew it, Don't think that I'm beating a dead horse since the entire incident is for the most part comfortably forgotten, It, or something like it will occur again, Shella do seem to havea rather cyclic existance in so far ae their populations are concerned, The cycles are also not predictable to any great extent and neither are they controllable, It is then ludicroun to suppose that we can control them by our laws, I think that what must be kept in mind respecting shell collactora ia thet we represent a Miniascule portion of the world's population, Iweuld estimate that there are only parhapa xeven to ten thousand people in the world who angage in shell collecting ( for any purpose than food gathering - that's a whole 'nother ball game). The popular images of the shell collector as the "little old lady in tennis shoes" {a probably far closer to being realistic than is the image of crazed and irresponaible hoards of people deacending on the reefs and rendering them polyp by polyp. There are, andIlam quite certainof it no shells that ara rare in nature. I feel that there in nature enough specimens available to allow sach and avery echell collector t> have one represented in his collection, and still leava enough specimans to continua the life of the apecies, If there are shells that are hard to find it Is because wa don't know where to get them or we are Incapable of Aue Lene thotr habitat, That is unless polution geta them , . 4... I will mention only briefly the contributions of shell collectors t» the under- standing of mollusks, And the many invaluable contributions mado by shall collectors, their observations and discoveries are made becaune because they are interested in collecting shells - they would not have occurred otherwise, Iwillalsano briefly men- tion that a great number of shells in collections today ara obtained by fishing and shrimping trawlers as a by product of thelr operations, Idon't know of a single boat operating today that goes out with the express purpose of collecting shells ~ it is not economically feasable to da so, Theae shells would be dead anyway unless ahrimping and tishing are alan bannad, which is quite unlikely, I conclude that a8 ghell collectors wea should remain free lo enjoy our hobby or avocation without windleas and illthought out le Alelation, As ahell collect- ora who are conscientious we should honov ind raspact our code of ethics and sn even higher gense of what is right, Andas shell collectors we should seek the re- Movalof the onus of gullt that is placed on ua by the population at-large by pointing out the real culprits who are responsible for the rape of the raof and fighting them In every way posalbia, e §Some of the above Material is from personal communications with Dr, R, Tucker Abbott, ad Conchologists of America Bullatin (de “Book finder Sea JLife of The Pacific Northwest, Stefani Hawlett and K, Gilbey Hewlett McGraw- SS SSR ap ORES Hill] Ryerson Ltd,, Toronto $ 14,95 1976 This book was written by a huaband and wife team whose occupations as curator and assistant to curator of the Vancouver Public Aquarium make them unique- ly qualified to write it. A large format book usually ie a pure and simple " Cuffee Table Book " and ia justa vehicle for graat pictures, Sea Life doesn't end there, even though the illustrations are well done and are appropriate to the text, The Pacific Northwest region has a very long coastline reaching from Northe- ern Baja California all the way to Alaska forming a remarkably untfform bio-geographic province having a temperature range of extraordinary uniformity, Withan average temperature differonce of only four degrees F, from north to south this narrow ther- mal] range makes it possible for the same Ufe forma to inhabit the entire range, While the Hfe forms found in this region tn terma of particular apociee ia not necessarilly the same as the range to be found inany comparable area In size or thermal distrib. ution, the ecological] nitchea to be fjlled are the same as for any cool-temperate zone, which is to aay that a Chiton in Oregon behaves and lives very Much like a Chiton in Japan, The entire littoral biota of the Pacific Northwest is deacribed Phylum by Phylim and the interrelation of plant to animal and animal as well Is discussed, There are Many simplified diagrama of the anatomy of the anima? groups covered anda very large number of photographs illustrating the species chosen to represent thease groups. The discussion is not geared tu the expert or to th specialist, but to every person who has ever walked along a beach and Jooked with interest at the teeming life ina tide pool or ona wave wet rock, When ever a book is written fora popular audience the temptation to write down to that audlence is hacd to resist and it in even more difficult when the writers are knowledpable people in their particular fleld, The Hewletts bave sida stepped this Scyl'a wlth out stepping into the Charibdis of writing a book comprehensible only to a professional reader. TVhis ts a very readable honk and an informative Gcue as well, To roview a book fairly, it is fre-antly necessary, to go back to other Looks that one has read or reviewed praviousiw and metre comparisons with them, At the rigk of charges of male chauvanis¢a Dust point cut that in the last soveral yeara we have reviowed some books oy amatencty, Jadias lathe twaomost notable cagen, in Which the enthuyiasms of peonle without aopveprivte now indgs? and education could not overcome thoee lacks, flow much batter a book weitten by a couple who can have sbared their bathtub with baby saats., or have tried to live off the pea while on vacat- it ie ion tripa Than by ''the little old lady in tennia whhoes ‘or whatever Uk, Conchologists of America Bulletin 8 Page ¢ You might novear bave the opportunity to walk the beaches of the Pacific Northwest in person, and that would bs ashame, [Ff you can't then I can recommend no better proxjes than the Hewletts , EIN ELI LEEW ALALY CREW CTR LAIR! + LORI > EPID SRDS OEE EAA The Worjd's Shellie, A Guide for Collecters. S, Peter Dance, McGraw-Hill Book Ca,, New York $10.95 1976 Peter Dances haa done it agains another book, and another good and yse- fulone at that, To peirt out that thia ts nota picture and/or shell identification book really saya very iittie about If, The World's Shalls is a well written book which communicates tha author's own anthusiasma, and his leng years of working in the field, which he can still approach with the beginner's sence of wonder and awe, Perhaps one of the bast thinga that cone might say of Mr. Dance is that he has added, with sach of hia books, to the popular conchological Hterature ur. inently readable onga which toach vpon tepica not fraquently dealt with, This book covers a wide range of tapica from the purs delighta of shell collecting to the indiv- idual to the inulti-person delights of the public shall @how, The chapters are Nomenclature, Classification, Where to Find Shells, Collecting, Arranging, Biology, the Raduing and Studying the Live Animals, the Distributlon Pattern of tha Animals, a discussion of the Form of the Shell, and too there are chapters on the reasons for the popularity of certain families, purchaging and exchanging and the valuing of shalla, <A chapter ontitied 'Shells which Deceive'! brings to the readre's attention the often confusing and aseamingly caatic melange of form and pattern in which shells have been placed by the professional as being mam- bere of the same family in some kind of magical and inexplicable '' Natural Order", A careful reading of this chapter alone would make this book valuable} if It does no- thing elae than to make the reader aware of the need to look beyomd the trivial and often superficial shell resemblances to the daasper relations determined by biological and genetic relationships which detarmine placement of species into genera, families etc,, I would be inclined to say that if a shell collector'a library is a limited one that this book together with Mr, Dance's "Collector's Encyclopedia of Shells '' and one of the area handbooks ora book dealing with the collector's favorite family or genus would make a very good working bookshelf, In addition to very readable English, which I appreciate, the illustrations are good and well chosen, They range from seventeanth century book pages through some of the plates from the great iconographies of the past to new photographs and drawings especially prepared for thie book, If I have any complaint to make about this book it is aimed toward the print- ar pages l22 ans 123 are transposed, this makes tor several startling sentances 'till the reader recognises the reason, My opinion remains, buy this one! fjn Conchologist: of Ameiica Aiiiletr 4 Page 7 GG TIA 0 AEE! 5 PARIS 1) AG I 2 TP Py AP AR) ORR ¢ a Keeping live Corals and Ipyactebroteg Rebert Pi1. Straughen A,S, Barnes and Co, Granburv, New sgersey $ 14,50 la7s Yi you ara one af tha many paople becoming intersated in marine aquaria, vr df you would llee to watch lascinating creatuses im your own home then this is a book for you, Pe bapy you lve Inan ares vetocts from the sea-shore, or for one reason or another you are not abie te jain thy sCUES& movement, or want to watch the life cycle ofa partivular anacted of Intorceat fo you or for any of a number of other reagons, a arif water acuacsdum taight be sua the thing for you, Mr, Straughan bas providad all of the divections that you will need to aet- ip and stock the howe aquardamn, Just think, a stngle living rock set-up in a well prepared aquirium could live and prow for yveara, providing great delight the whole time, There isa chapter listing twenty five Invertebrate species which the author feels do best in the home aquartum and wives very particularized directions regarding them, " I must take the author to task, theugh, for anthropomorphizing some of these creatures, He describes and Includes a series of photographs which show two Fasctolaria hunteria, Perry, 181) dining cna clam, which he fuels seems to demon- atrate a high degrees of intelligent cooperation betwoan two animals, Thia demon- atralion was repeated three times and the reaults were the same each time, however since during the experiments only ONE food ite’? (a cla in this case) was placed in the tank with two predators did this in fact represent absolute cooperation between the predators? Since only one source of food was present would it not be acually a dem. onstration of cooperation If cne of the predators took the position of allowing it's hun- gtier associate to fead while the first one waited? Some years ago a book was written to debunk the scientific comMunity and it's rellance on experiMents and used as a dem- onstration of the failure of extrapolation frotn exporiMoents the following: "Friday I drank twelve whigkey and sodas, and I got very drunk! Saturday I drank twelve scotch and godas, and I got very drunk! Sunday I drank twelve brandy and sodaa, and I got very drunk! ™ ergo, Soda is a very Intoxicating drink aince it was the common culprit in each case, This is very Lewis Carrol type logic; " Just the place for a Snark! I have said it Twice: That aJone should encourage the crew, Just the place fora Snark] [ have aztd it Thrice: What Itell yuu threa thes fs trua," Had Mr, Straughan varied the procedure of bla exparhmonts I, for one, should have found his obgervations at once atartiing and valuable, The value of this book does net Ue inthe author's speculations, but in the directions and instructions for setting up aquaria and caring for their inhabitants, Conchologists of America Bulletin & Page 8 Biological Techniques, Collecting, Prosearving, and TlluatratingPiantsa and Animals, Jena W, Knudsen Harper and Row, Publishars, New York 1966 The very first sentance in the Preface sets forth the author's purpose "This book has been written aa a texthook for courses in Biological Techniques on Musenm Techniques and to meat the needa of thore whe are involved in working with Natural History material" and I for one think that the author has succeeded admirably, Much of the saterlal covered by thia bouk naturally, ia not in the specific aubject area of the shell collector's inferseta., Only one chapter is devoted entirely to the Mollusk as atonte, In that chapter, though, the author combines a great wealth of good information on collecting sites and techniques together with such useful directions as the preparation of tha radula, The very obvious, to the pro- fessional, though vot so much so te the amateus divectioas for nurnbering opercula to correspond with the shells from which they have been removed to insure that they can be rastored to the proper specimans is the sort of thing that Prof, Knudsen hae included, Some of tha other chapters contain valuabje information as well, in fact, one might consider this as a vary useful collectiny and preserving handbook, For the person with a modicum of mechiniva! slilland accesa to a work. shop this book contains a valuable bonus in hiving clerr and concise directions and drawinps for building storage cabinets and othur apparatus, This book, now ten yearg old, might not be as caailly pottenas some of the others which Lhave raviewad for The Bulietin, but the effort involved in locating a copy will be well renayad for those of you who excert your immaginations to obtain its PAT 4 PSERER < | PRPS ULE Cea OAR DORA UCREI 1-85 (OED | SIN Culture Methods for Invertebrate Animalia, A Compendium prepared cooperatively by “Veflact American “oclogats under ‘the directlon ofa committee from Section F of The American Assoclation for the Advancernant of Sclence, ads, Paul S, Galtsoff, Prank ©, Luts, FaulS, Watch, & Tamos G, Needham Chairman Dover Publications Inc., Now York $ 4,50 1959 -A caprint of the 1937 Edition by Comstock Publishing Co, Now that's a dot of title, and would you balleva, in 590 pages the editors have put together 313 vrtic log which repreant the concentrated work of a large body of speclalistn, The colecting hints, the drawings and directions for building tools that wlll make collecting easiar and the hiata for keeping the collected materiala alive are simple straightforward and eminently practicai, This paporbacked and inexpensive book has bean around for fourty years, and with pood reason, Any one who collects lives material or wants te keep Hve roatarial living should have this book close at hand because it will gat fraquant and good use, Conchologists of Aimericu Bulletin Page 9 The Sea Beach at Ebb-Vida, A’ Gulde to the Study of the Seaweeds and the Lower Animal Life found between the Tide Marks Augusta Foote Arnold Dover Publications Inc,, New York $ 4,00 0 1901 Seashore Anirals of the Pacific Coast Myrtia Elisabeth Johnson, Ph,D, and Harry Tamrac Snook, Mi Se Dover Publications Inc,, New York $ 4,50 © 1927 The, ash Fauna_of Great Britain, A Vandbook for Collectors N,B,Eales, Sc, D. Cambridge at the University P Proas, O al CER 1950 juide to Identification of Marine and Estureine Invertebrates, Cape Hatteras to tha TORT AE RR eT ee re Ee ee Casey ay “oft Fundy. Yanneth fue Gosner Wile PTH anise ee a Division of John Wiley & SonalInc,, New York a emt bed Cy | A Handbook to the_ Common | Inte rtis la] Invertobratos of the Gulf of Callfornia Richard oes me ne ew eee - ee ween Seine ee A me tee & Fe er ee. cere — ave “Brusca The “University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Ariz. $10.95 1973 No, that's notanerror, there are five hooks listed above, All of these hooks are connected by a common theme, é Bach of these books is a cormprehansive handbook to the Ufe forms unique to the sea shore environment of it's own particular area, Taxonomic keys are pros vided in the books by Eales, Goener, and Firusca which makes identifying unfamil- jar specimens by "keying out 'a very simple and etraightforward proceedure, All of the books are wall illustrated with Hine drawings, ‘though, Arnold and Johnson & Snook do have photographs as wejl, Drawings, provided that they are clear and distinct, uaually show details botter than photuyraphs and they make identification easter “ The goographic range of each of these books is different and perhaps only one of them wonld be ralevent to the area in which you do most of your collecting, Chose the ons which covers the area af your own special interest, naturally, if you do buy any one of them, and then only {f your interest in collecting involves coing your own flald collecting, You might find that one of the four books that are still available would be invaluable in planning your next collecting trip into an unfamiviar collacting area, Thave, myself, Aved and collected In many of theses areas and have consid- erable persona) familarity with England, the Atlantl Coast, and the Pacific Coaat bit Thave nevor had the pleasure of collecting In the Gulf of California, If evar I gy get the onportunity to go te Tha Sea of Caria. you can be anre that Mr, Brusca's Look WU be in ety fupyape and that Tb have reread it thoroughly before I set off, Books which cover ‘the ontire demas present ina aingle area may not be for every one of you, Phink, if you will, of the advantages that will accrue to your ehell collecting and shel) canlection whikh contd also anbaoce your plenaure tos, Having better data move complete and accurate wilt make your collection of greater valne fo your selfand wll! cartainky make the + pecimensy which you trade with othera Ineca deairable, Tinderstunding the interrelations batweuen the membera of the whole nieta ina partloular colle ting site wlll mate Ut eaviar to discover the hiding place of thos. Rpectal specimens that you are looking for. I prant that there are at least as Conchologists of America Bulletin £3 Page 9 Many collectors More familiar with the Jealera Hata as thera are collectors who g» out into the field and collect far themselyes, If youare the kind of collector that I am then these books are at least as neces ary to you as tlide-tables and accurate Mang If all of your field collecting is done on annunl tripe to the sea shore then a knowledge of what you Might find and where, learned in advance, will keep you from being "ahut out''and wasting the precious few daya that you can davote to your trip, Expand your horizons with this kind of background and your collection will take on new dimengiona of pleasure, : Pints YAIR > ETEREDM be SPMD ¢ 2 SINE ( GRAM 4 GUAR 4 YET 4 ) Th 4 AEN PE OE OTP. Guide to Shella. A.H,P, Oliver, Illustrated by James Nicholla, Quadrangle | A Demeter Press Book, Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co,, New York. $ 9.95 1975 | With such an omnibus title ona could expect something either quite dif- ferent from what one finds or Mores-the-pity the 'same old thing", This book is an example, walland profuaely Sllustrated of the "same old thing", Of 153 pages of Ilustratlons FIVE! are devated to Blvalvia and ONE pape covers four clasees - Cephalopoda, Scaphapoda, Atnphineura, and Mononplacophora, To say that 147 piges of illustrations are davoted to marine Gastropoda certainly sounds familar docsn't it, The author states "se IT have given up the struggle and selected these which T should most like to see illustrated", that staternent of purpose strikes me Aa being just about the least reasonabls excuse for writing a book that I can think of! The illustrations are In fact vary well done and far above the level to which we have become accoetumad, BUT ia this sufficient reason to add ona more World- wide sea shell book covering the vary same materisl to the already too large body of the wame ? Mr, Oitver yoas into quite an extensive axarspie of the difficulty of proparly identifying shells, weing a Chicoveus spacies the pointa out that this spec. imen is illuatrated ona later pays, After meandering about the point for three paragraphs ho naver really points ont what specious in ilustratod by thia mystery ahell nor by what authori?y he foltconfident encaugh to dUustrate Itas, in fact, a suff{elently representative exiniple of that snocieas 30 a8 net to add his admitted cenfusion te that of the reader, Buy this book if you niust, the itlustrarions do lift it out of the entirely commonplace, buat doa't expect that dt will provide any moro aseistance to you than anumber of chaaper hooks can and wihlil do, PIN > VECONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN #10 C. O. A. OFFICERS ze BULLETIN STAFF EDITOR: TOM RICE PRESIDENT: SALLY BENNET P.O. Box 219; Port Gamble, Washington $8364 514 Vest Rose Lane; Phoenix, Arizona 85013 VICE-PRESIDENT: MARJORIE STEVENS ASSOCIATE EDITORS: 1825 NE 16th Avenue; Portland, Oregon $7212 MARY PALMER 270 S. Cypress, #208; Pompano Beach, FL, 3306 EDITH OETZELL 518 S. Ardmore Ave.,; Villa Park, IL, 60181 TREASURER: KATHE DANIELS , Route 1, Box 265-A; Apollo, Pennsylvania 15613 LILLIAN HEMMIE 700 St. Charles, #1411; Brownsville, TX. 78520 HERB YOUNG P.O. Box 1921; Seattle, Washington 98111 SECRETARY: JOHN & FAYE RATHBUN 8815 W., Stark Street; Portland, Oregon $7229 DUES: $3.00 PER YEAR SEND CHECK & MEMBERSHIP BLANK Ae EE can ORME: This tgs nom wilt comtmislety rice ISSUES IN APRIL, AUGUST & DECEMBER | ABOVE) | CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA CONVENTION FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA ¢orrom Reservations VULY 20 - 24, 1977 contact Ramada inn directly RAIADA INN - 440 SEABREEZE BLVD. - FT. LAUDERDALE. FL.33304 CONVENTION CHAIRMAN: a (305) 463-1144 ASK FOR LYNN SAUNDERS ne leer i ht KIRK ANDERS Wat Fi lia Ly ADVANCE REGISTRATION NO. IN“ PARTY: J ‘ NAME: \, cM LIBRARY e\ELD MUSEUM LIBS h ADDRESS: STAYING AT RAMADA INN? JULY 20 REGISTRATION FEE $7.50 PER PERSON JULY 22 SEAQUARIUM & PLANET OCEAN $12.50 ADULT. $9.50 UNDER 12 ee Ae ee CAGE 2 JULY 21 MAI KAI DINNER & SHOW $13,00EACH BANQUET $8.00 EACH JULY 23° JUNGLE QUEEN DINNER& SHOW $10.75 EACH GIVE A TALK EQUIPMENT NEEDED: WHILE AT THE CONVENTION. | WILL: TITLE & LENGTH: | AM SENDING A DONATION FOR THE AUCTION SEND CHECK & COMPLETED FORM TO: C.0.A. CONVENTION ‘77, C/O P.O. BOX 1418; FT. LAUDERDALE, FL. 33302 CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN .° FROM THE CONVENTION CHAIRMAN: We have all worked hard to make this convention THE one you'll remember! The fun starts on the morning of July 20th with registration and meeting your fellow conventioneers, Opening session commences at 1:00 p.m. with the talks lasting until 4:00 p.m. Following the end of the talks everyone will board the Voyager Train for a tour of "The Venice of America" - Fort Lauderdale. At the tour's conclusion all are invited to a no-host cocktail party until its time for dinner, Onthe 21st there are programs all day. That evening one can enjoy independent sightseeing, or join the group for a super dinner and show at the famous MAI KAI RESTAURANT . This typical polynesian establishment is the finest in the country and our dinner includes appetizers of egg roll, Shanghai chicken, Tahitian cheese tangs and crab Rangoon; supper entre of green bean chicken or pork foo yung; dessert is followed by a great Polynesian revue, Friday the 22nd is the day for a field trip to SEAQUARIUM and PLANET OCEAN, This all-day outing starts at 9:00 a.m., returning at 4:00 p.m. SEAQUARIUM is one of the finest of its type with killer whales, dolphin and fish by the thousands. PLANET OCEAN is a new attraction built by the International Oceanographic Foundation and explains much about the sea and the creatures that live there as well as the physical properties and conditions of our planet's seas. Back to the Ramada Inn (or your accomodations) in time to spruce up the the Annual ‘Banquet and Auction this evening. Saturday, July 23, is taken up by talks, slide shows and fun. This evening features the JUNGLE QUEEN TOUR and DINNER. This large boat will comfortably seat all our conventioneers for a ride up the New River, passing famous homes and parks to an island retreat where you'll be served dianer family style. Get set for a show and sing-along on the way back down the river. Sunday morning is the annual business meeting and the election of officers. The 1977 Convention of the Conchologists of America concludes, Sunday afternoon we hope to start a field trip - for the next 2} days, 2 nights - for collecting and sightseeing on the famous FLORIDA KEYS, Throughout the convention, thanks to the efforts of R. Wayne Stevens, we'll be giving away dozens of fantastic shell books, donated to us by their publishers as door prizes for our Annual Convention. You have to be there to be lucky. In conjunction with the Conchologists of America Comention '77 there will be a shell show for you to attend and enjoy. It's a competitive show and we're sure you'll learn from it. | urge those of you who are able, to volunteer to give a talk, slide presentation, etc, And to EVERYONE, Please fill out and return, with your check, the form for ADVANCE REGISTRATION on page one of this issue, See you in sunny Fort Lauderdale, KIRK ANDERS Convention Chairman C.0.A. MEMBERSHIP FORM NAME: Telephone No.: ADDRESS: Major Areas of Interest: Marine == ss © —S ss.» ~S— > ~—S Freshwater hessils $75, amQthex Number of years collecting: Travel to: Inte rested in trading ? Send to: KATHE DANIELS, Treasurer C.0.A. Please make checks payable to Conchologists of America Route 1, Box 265-A Apollo, Pennsylvania 15613 Dues are $3 .00 per year per person WHY NOT JOIN THE FUN TODAY! The only nationwide shell club, CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN #10 : NEW SPECIES OF CALLIOSTOMA FROM THE TERTIARY OF VIRGINIA J. J. PARODIZ Reprinted, with permission, from the Pittsburgh Shell Club Bulletin, March 1976 t Recommendation 8A of the 1.C .Z.N. proscribes the use of mimeo- graphic publications (such as this Bulletin) to describe new species or to give new names, Therefore, the official description of the spe- cies named below will appear presently in a scientific journal for the purposes of its validity. The present advancement in our Bulletin is imended only as a notification of the novelty, since it was recently collected by one of our most active members, Mrs. Jay J. Tripp, to whom the author dedicates the species with a great deal of pleasure, Calliostoma jayae, n. sp. ” Diagnosis: Shell not umbilicated, approximately as wide as high, whorls concave, sculpture with smooth -- not beaded -- spiral cords with double carina and canaliculated at periphery; apertural lip fes- tooned, Description: Shell with almost six whorls (5 + 4/5 or, 5 + 248% ; those corresponding to the spire, concave, The protoconch has 14 globose and polished whorls, and these, plus the rest of the second whorl, are iridescent. At the middle of the second whorl starts areg- ular and smooth spiral cord, doubled in the third, and so increasing successively to six in number inthe last whorl; spaces between are deep and as wide as the cords, In the penultimate whorl there are al- so thread-like spirals between the cords, The cords are not beaded, Beginning with the third whorl, the base of each is marginated with a strong, rounded keel; such keel is repeated immediately at the top of the next whorl, leaving a canaliculated space between, which corresponds to the sutural area, although the suture is indistinct; the deep canal preceding the lower keel is flattened, and it is more evident at the periphery marking the carina bet ween spire and base, but the carina continues to its distal end at the outer lip. Aperture subquadrate, its beight being less than half of that of the shell, The inner--columellar--margin of the aperture falls obliquely to the basal which is straight and crenulated by a festoon as well as the outer lip, corresponding to the ending of the cords and carina. Base sculp- tured with sixteen spiral and finer cords, which increase in width from border to center, and the last two, around the umbilical zone, very strong; ending on the lip these cords thicken, marking the sinu- ous edge of the lip. Columella thick with a wide area, flat, to the left, and with a small protuberance at the base but not constituting a true tooth. Umbilicus completely closed. Dimensions: Height 9 .2 mm.; width 10mm. Aperture 4 mm, at its highest and 44 mm. wide. Diameter of last whorl at top (canal) 74 mm. Spiral angle in relation to axis 80°, Sutural divergence from base 5°, Obliquity of the base left to the lip in relation tobase, 39", Type locality: Rice's Pit, Hampton, Virginia, collected by Jay J. Tripp, October 6, 1975, among debris of middle Miocene deposits (T ortonian-Samartian), together with other fossil specimens as Comu stearnsi Conrad, and Polinices catenoides (Wood). A single speci- men, Remarks: This small and graceful Calliostoma differs from any of the living or Tertiary known species by its peculiar not beaded : sculpture and the bicarinate-canaliculated periphery . Among the living species it can be compared to C . pamleri Dall from Ecuador and its allied C , nonorum Pilsbry & Olsson surviving from the Plio- cene inthe same region, both having slightly concave whorls, but apart from geographical difference, C , jayae can be clearly distin- tinguished; in thosespecies the umbilicus may or may not be open and if any ancestral relationship existed with our new Atlantic spe- cies, it can be accounted to the communication that existed between western Atlantic and eastern Pacific during the late Tertiary, C . ex- imium Reeve from Baja California has a similar shape, but it is high- er and the spiral cords do not form carinae, If this species has been collected previously, it probably was mistaken for C . cyclus Dall, 1892 (Trans, Wagner Inst. Phila. 3 (2):403,. pl. 23, F. 20) which has a similar keel on the periphery only, not on the upper whorls, flat-sided spire instead of concave whorls, suture not canaliculated, umbilicus large and deep, and shell much wider than high, In a similar way it can be compared to C , iher- ingi Ortmann from the Patagonian formation (lower Miocene) . This ae that this species-group of Calliostoma has an extensive dis- tribution when the now colder southernmost areas of the Atlantic were subtropical . The strongest double carinated species with a canal between cords in the western Atlantic is C . cubanum Clench & Aguayo, but differs conspicuously by its beaded sculpture and its estimated proportions with a much higher spire. From C . occidentalis (Mighels & Adams) which has w wider distribution in the North Atlantic, C . jayae differs by its shorter spire, whorls not convex (the Last one in occidentalis is decidedly globose), wider columellar area and subquadrate aper - ture. Henry C . Lea (1843) described several species -- as Trochus -- from the Tertiary of Florida (T . armillus, conus, lens, torquatus, aratus and ruffini); besides being exceedingly small (fran 2-4 mm .) these species ditfer in shape, umbilicus and sculpture, and there is none with concave whorls. EDITOR'S NOTE The collecting trip on which Jay Tripp collected this new species of Calliostoma was a part of the Conchologists of America’s 1975 Convention in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Maybe someone will came up with a new species on the 1977 trip to Bimini just prior to this year's Comention! Please read Jay Tripp's account of her "find" on page 5. THE EDITOR’S CORNER First, in this shortened version of an Editor's column, a thank you to those who have helped get this first issue under my temporary editorship out . Without input from the membership all our efforts to put out an informative and interesting news- letter will go for naught, We need your help to make both the C .0.A. and our readership grow. We are interested in any article that tells of shells, shelling, trips, favorite shells, personalities, etc. Things that you may be able to pass along to the rest of us to help us enjoy our fascinating hobby even more . Contact me or one of those who have consented to be an Associate Editor, our addresses are on page 1 , We are not adverse to reprinting interesting articles from your local shell club's newsletter, so send those in as well, Our next issue will appear In August, with a report on the 1977 Convention, which promises to be biggest and best yet. Send in your items by July 15th, please. Tom TOM RICE s CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN #10 " MORE STATELY MANSIONS DR. BYRON W. TRAVIS Most of us are quite familiar with the poem titled "The Chamber- ed Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, and we can take from our shell collections at least one beautiful specimen to confirm the beauty of the shell, and see how a writer would be inspired, Yet there is another builder in lime at least as inspirational as the Nautilus, whose house is not found in our collections nearly as often as it deserves. This Is the little Xenophora, one of the most remarkable builders to be found. ! ama student of anthropology, eager to gather information about the presence of man upon this earth for so many past generations , And one of the significant things we always look for is the finding of artifacts and tools indicating that these past inhabitants of our earth could devise and use tools, An indication of knowledge and skill, the evidence of humanity, is the fact that ancient man used tobdls, for the obtaining of food, to achieve greater comfort, and to create homes and civilizations. The beautiful Nautilus does build, ina way, but having started a home, it merely adds rooms, in order to continue to exist, It does not use a tool particularly, in the ordinary sense, nor does it put forth any particular effort in order to expand or decorate its home, It merely puts in a partition, and moves around ina circle, for greater convenience, and the fact that otherwise it could not continue ex- istence , In some respects the Nautilus lives like a batchelor who does not bother to wash his dishes, or keep his house clean, He merely lays aside the used articles and starts afresh! But the car- rier shell has ideas of ambition, and proceeds with a definite plan --- of action in the decoration of its shell, selecting with care what material is available in its environment, and places that material with care and patience and skill exactly where it wishes the ad- dition to be made, And it is not something done secretely, hidden from all eyes, but openly for all to see, inviting scrutiny it would seem, as B, R, Bales said, quoted by R. Tucker Abbott in “Amer-~ ican Sea Shells", like a female Xenophora calling over a backyard fence to her girl friend to "Come and see the perfect dream of a shell | picked up today, and tell me if | have it on straight." Every col- lector should have at least one of these lovely specimens inhis or her collection, Some time ago! started collecting Xenophora, being fascinated with the ingenuity of this little animal, what it was able to doin whatever environment it found itself, with whatever material was available, under most adverse conditions, | term it a miracle shell; imagine a small snail being able to move about and select the ma- terial it intends to use, then without hands or any device to use as a tool other than its pitiful little foot being able to place this ma- terial where it should go, then manufacturing an adhesive and fas- tening it there permarenily under water, so that it will probably never be removed even upon the death of the inhabitant of the shell, Every particle or shell is very carefully selected, and particularly placed so as to not impede movement, in an orderly fashion, | have taken these shells when! am speaking to some organization, and find people are always fascinated by their appearance, and the story of their life, The Xenophora is found widely over the earth, though generally int tropical or semitropica! waters , We obtain them from the South Pacific, the waters of Japan, the Philippines, Australia, New Zea land, We get them from South Africa, North Africa and the Mediter ranean, We find them in the Caribbean, off Florida and PuertoRico, abd also off the coast of Mexico and Central America, And there are both strange differences, and strange similarities, baffling us as to how they happen to be where they are, and why generally sim- ilar species are found so far apart, We are puzzled by such a vari- ety of names for shells so much alike, probably caused by scien- tists bewildered at the appearance of a shell in a new and different location, not realizing it is the same shell found elsewhere and al- ready named , And to our amazement a specimen known to take partic- _ular delight in attaching clam shells, as the conchyliophora off Florida, will be found off Puerto Rico decorating itself with stones, Surely it could have found shells, and why did it encumber itself with such heavy material, which must have been horribly difficu It to carry about, and to cope with in making a living, One sometimes has the same perplexity in seeing neighbors put up with accumulating debris and living under adverse conditions, when others are so neat and efficient in their manner of life. | find a vast similarity between the Xenophora and people around me; it is fascinating. In trying to trace the ancestry of such a remarkable animal, | have been able to obtain a few fossils, taken from our east coast, and from Italy . Apparently this little animal has covered the earth for millions of years, following some remote origin, And it amazes me, from the learned lectures | have read on evolution and the develop- ment of species thru eons of time, that this little snail evidently decided long ago that there was no sense in making changes. It was able to cope with any period of earthly history, and has remained the same . You cannot hold such a fossil in your hand and see any not- able difference between it and its family today, other than that the vast time between has removed the shells or material once decorat- ing its little house, But there still remains clear evidence of how it appeared long ago, much more so than archaeologists find in past civilizations, as at Byblos, where they have excavated evidence of as many as nine civilizations, one atop the other. But you must . imagine a great deal, for so little remains, and it is do different, The little Xenophora built so sturdily that except for outer decorat- ions, his house remains intact. | have looked for years for a fossil abalone, without success, Why such a sturdy shell does not exist among fossils intrigues me, for it also grew everywhere and is built well enough to survive . | have heard of one in a New Zealand mu- seum, but cannot be sure, Yet the Xenophora is found in consider- able numbers, in recognizable condition. While | have a rather complete collection, except for one or two very rare species, | continually add interesting shells because of variations in appearance, a different habit of collection, and differ- ent arrangements . One problem is that we have to take what collec- tors and dealers in shells offer, when we would like very much to be able to select our shells before we buy. And apparently the supply is disappearing, for not many are offered for sale now, and prices are fast mounting. If you wish to add one to your collection, you had better do it in a hurry, while still available, and they are reasonable to obtain, And it will never fail to please you when you see the surprise and interest among friends when you show them your speci- men, and describe how it lived, and cared for itself, And you will have something far more remarkable, in bts way, than the Nautilus. The Nautilus never builds more stately mansions, though sometimes the poem does inspire us to give more attention to our souls, It is the Xenophora which is able to vary its building, and to indulge in variety as it uses its skills and imagination in building. HERE is the miracle shell! How about sending us your article on your favorite group of shells? How did you get interested in them? Why should the rest of us be at all interested in them? What are some of the fascinating thiags these critters do? Send your article in today to either the Editor or one of the Associate Editors. Addresses are on page one, CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN #10 PINNIDAE - PEN SHELLS LILLIAN HEMMIE FUN FOSSILING AT THE C.O.A. JAY TRIPP Anatomy of thw rontle Per Shell pester ~ eel if ' yy Four days spent at the fourth annual meeting of the Conchologist s of America were a fun-filled party! We met in October at Virginia Beach, Va. The meeting was attended by members from all over the country: amateurs, advanced-amateurs, professionals, and dealers, The papers and films were enlightening and entertaining, shell dis- plays fascinating, an exciting shell auction, parties galore, and everyone was ina happy and relaxed mood. The meeting had been well planned, including a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, For me the highlight of the whole deal was not the ocean in front of our motel as | had expected, but driving inland, away from the Recent marine mollusks |! normally collect. ” Wylda Stephens, a personable resident of the area arranged a fossiling trip to Hampton, Va. Rice's Pit, in the middle of a suburb- an community, is privately owned and for a small fee we collected fossil shells from the Miocene of Virginia -- estimated to be 16-18 million years old, There had been rumors through our C. 0. A. ranks that "at Rice's you don't have to dig, you just stoop over and pick shells off the ground". | didn't quite believe this, so carried along a sturdy trowel , However, the rumors were true and | also needed the trowel, As soon as we began our descent into the Pit, along a sloping, circular path made by a mechanical shovel, | began to see beautiful and perfectly preserved Turritella alticostata Conrad, which proved to be the most common available species, Halfway to the pit bottom, | sat down and began sifting through the shell debris from rain-eroded cuts in the vertical sides of the pit, Here | found specimens of; Cadulus thallus Conrad, Pairieria stimp- sonii (Dall), Sinum fragile Conrad, Oliva webbi Olsson, Dentalium attenuatum Say, Trophon lepidota Dall, Pyrula lyrasoma sulcosa ‘ Conrad, Cymatosyrinx lunata (Lea), Polinices catenoides (Wood), Conus stearnsi Conrad, Crepidula fornicata (Linnaeus), Serpulorbis niisei (Morch), Pelecypoda species, and Trochidae species, These shells were everywhere, on every level of the pit, Pinnidae are unique among the clams ~ the shell has both an anter- ior and a posterior muscle scar - (in trying to find these, | was con- fused - as | always thought the anterior was the front of anything, the posterior what was behind), but eventually | learned that anterior was what pointed ahead when the animal crawled, the posterior was the part that trailed behind! Of course the Pen Shells move very little, mostly burrowing down; | doubt that anyone ever saw one crawling! Moving down further into this great wide hole in the ground where the clay soil was wet and soggy, | began to dig into the side of a vertical cut. In about 45 minutes of digging, steaming, and sliding oh the muddy footing, a huge 5.3" Lyropecten iePorsonius edge- combiensis Conrad appeared intact .1 ie thought T had a dinosaur bone! The Pecten was not a thing of beauty as were the clean, white small species, Each valve was literally cov ered with tremendous growths of ancient barnacles and between the valves was six pounds of wet clay. Happily, the barnacles proved to be soft and crumbly and were easily cleaned away. When | first started getting interested in shells, | saw no reason for knowing about the animals, but | found that you have to know a- bout the animals to really understand why the shells are like they are, and | have found it so very fascinating! As we know, the Pen Shells live upright in the sand or mud, and the small foot spins byssus threads to anchor it to rocks and broken shells - that is what the books say - | have tried and tried to find one so anchored, sol could show it to others, so far | have only found them spread in the clay or sand, with tiny bits of shells on them. Most collectors do not save the byssal threads, but to me, that is like the operculum of other shell animals. Amongthe 17 or so species collected, my prize is a new species of Trochidae which Jose Parodiz has described elsewhere in this Bulletin: Calliostoma jayae Parodiz! EDITOR'S NOTE: The above was reprinted, with permission, from the Pittsburgh Shell Club Bulletin of March 1976, The two valves are usually just above the surface of the sand to collect their food from the water, therefore they get a lot of sand, broken shells, debris as the tides go in and out, So they have a u~ nique finger-like organ that pushes the debris out into the waste canal between the two mantles which forms a strong current to carry away the debris. Continued on page 6, ‘first column, a ama et me redin ds to - a CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN PINMIDAE - PEN SHELLS ora) page it is also differert from other bivalves by uniting the two valves ‘by a dark, non-efastic ligament along the anterior margin, then a- long the posterior margin by a fusion of the outer prismatic shell layer, called a secondary ligament. There are no hinge teeth as in most bivalves, There has been no work done on the growth or reproduction of this animal, The shells are very fragile and break easily, due to the large crystals of calcite. The young begin life as minute bi- valves and growth proceeds in the posterior direction, leaving the equilateral embryonic valves perched on the umbos of the young adults, which are usually worn away before long. > The Atrina species (1 wondered why so many had that name and “found that it is Latin for dark or black) are found in all warm waters, while the Stri ana are found only in the Indo-Pacific region. | had never even seen an Amber Pen Shell, so! was very thrilled to find them in the Caribbean Sea, off the island of rpaees on a re- cent shelling trip. The Pen Shell animal makes its shell in two layers of time ma- terial from the water. The outer or prismatic layer is composed of large calcite crystals laid at right angles to the long axis of the shell, The partial inner layer of nacreous or iridescent material, aragonite (calcium carbonate), is produced parallel to the long axis. The outer shell is made rough to help anchor it inthe sand, Bar- nacles, tube worms and small clams anchor on the shell too, A tiny crab lives in the mantle, The periostracum is usually worn away. The Pen Shells have produced pear!s of moderate value in the Mediterranean. We all know about the byssal threads that the foot spins to anchor itseld; these threads from Pinna nobilis (the amber shel! from the Mediterranean) was spun Into high quality garmets before silk was known - it made the "Golden Fleece". A large shell produced one gram of the substance. A pair of stockings made from these byssal threads was presented to the Pope - stockings so fine that they were kept in a snuff box. Tanranto, Italy had an important byssus industry until recent times; they used one-third silk and pro- duced a fine warm material . The shell's posterior muscle is delicious and eaten in Japan and the islands of Polynesia. The sheil itself is carved imto decorative articles and used as plates. Pen Shells are indeed another of Nature's Poneerel Continued from column to right, surf is calm, Every shelling trip is a new adventure and | learn some- thing about shells from each expedition, My friend, who has guided me across the reefs of Guam, has left for new hunting grounds in the Panama Canal Zone. ! was very sad to see her leave, but she had been shelling on Guam for nearly eight years , She was ready to hit new shelling areas. | have been here on Guam for three years, and | am following in the tradition of my friend When some new beginner comes to my door and asks me where the shells are on Guam, | take them under my wing, 810 SHELLING ON GUAM CHERYL RICHARDSON When | arrived in Guam, it was not as if | were a new sheller. | had started collecting shells in 1957 in Florida, F ortunat ely for me my parents enjoyed traveling and usually we ended up spending the summer in Florida, Shelling in 1957 was not the fad or the "in" thing to do as itis now, That year there were only a few shell books available to use for identification, Anyway, we have came a long way since those days, baby! Back then shelling in Florida was easy; shells were abundant from Clearwater, Sarasota to Sanibel Island. ! had not shelled since 1959 when we moved to Guam in 1974. 1 had visions of finding Charonia tritonis in the eel grass and Strombus lentiginosus carpeting the sandy bottom. It was not quite that way. uam is completely surrounded by a coral reef, Shelling on a coral reef is very different from shelling the sandy mud flats of Florida. | found that my tennis shoes were not adaquate protection when I twist- ed my foot and received a deep scratch on a coral rock. The shells have a much better hiding place and very camouflaged living quarters, 1 had to learn how to shell all over again. | was awed by the great beauty of the reef. The beautiful tropical fish, stunning coral heads and blue sea stars radiated flourescent colors, The tidal pools were breathtaking, It was a fabulous sight to behold and is forever endeared in my memory, But where were the shells? Where were the Cypraea, the Murex, the cones which | ex- pected to see everywhere . rhe bivalves | expected to find cast ashore as fresh dead, No shells anywhere, except for a few Vasum turbinelium and Drupa recinus . After a week of hunting and shelling on my own! had become disillusioned and discouraged, There were no textiles, virgos and strombs . What was | doing wrong? After we moved into our house, a neighbor told me of a shell collector who lived across the street and that she had shells all over her house which she had collected herself, Out of sheer desperation | got up enough nerve to knock on her door and ask what | was doing wrong. ! remember how she gave me a compassionate laugh as | stood there telling my desparate story. She was very kind and decided she would help me out, My first mistake was to try shelling alone. Secondly, it takes time to learn the secrets of the shells and where they hide. As in most areas the knowledge of these places is a guarded secret, and not easily obtained information. Also there was another fact to be learned -- the four ways of shelling: reef-walking, snorkeling, look box and scuba. Well, | was not about to take on scuba unless these three other methods failed me. | met another very dear friend, who not only explained the above to me, but offered to take me shelling that very night. At night! Oh dear! Is that the reason | haven't found any shells? She explained to me it was one of the many reasons. This sweet dear woman took me under her wing and lead across the reefs of Guam for two years, That first night was a night | will never forget. | have never seen so much equipment for a project, She brought coleman light, two- foot long tongs and weird-looking boxes, These boxes were very large and had glass bottoms. She set everything up for me with a coleman light sitting inside the box with towels and a can for me to house my finds, Then we started out. We walked along a sandy rub- ble bottom in water about waist deep. 1! found cones, Lambis, jlere- bra, just exposed on top of the sand. | thought my mind "blew" away. Tt was like | thought it would be - but even better! As the months went by | learned that different species have differ- ent habitats , That some species of shells can be found in the day and others are only found at night, Different areas on Guam are access- ible only at certain times of the year when the tide is minus and the Continued at bottom of column to left Sy ( SONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN GO.0.A. OFFICERS 1977-78 PRESIDENT: KATHE DANIELS Route 1, Box 265-A; Apollo, Pennsylvania 15613 VICE-PRESIDENT: MARJORIE STEVENS 1835 NE 16th Avenue; Portland, Oregon 97212 SECRETARY : JENNIE WELCOME 1504 San Antonio Dr ,; Douglas, Arizona 85607 TREASURER: GERRY WALKLET 234 Howard Drive; Bellair Beach, Florida 33535 DUES: (1977) $3.00 (1978) $3 .00 individual $5.00 Family Send check or money-order to Treasurer (address above) CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA CONVENTION - HER Date: July 20, 1977 Time: 1:50 Place Ramada Inn, Ft, Lauderdale, FL, The Occasion: The 6th Annual Convention of the Conchologists of America, The opening session was gavelled to order by Convention Chair- man Kirk Anders, of Ft. Lauderdale, 46 registrants were in atten- dance, pre-registration ably taken care of by Ms, Kathe Daniels, Gerrie Walklet, plus helpers, prior to the opening session - from LOzam,.. 60:1. p.m. After Mr. Anders welcomed those in attendance, he introduced the President of the C.0.A. for 1976-77, Sally Bennett, The Presi- dent gave a brief synopsis of the C 0 .A. during her tenure and re- ported that membership had increased over 100% from the previous year's convention, As of mid-year 1977, membership was 280, She introduced to the convention the officers of the C.0.A. for the 1976-77 year and expressed her appreciation for the great work they had performed for her and for the C.0.A, Sally then presented to the members, Mr, Mike Cahill, President of the Broward County Shell Club of Ft, Lauderdale, Florida, Mr. Cahill, also of the Broward County Commissioners Offices, welcomed those in attendance and all members of the C .0.A. on behalf of the local shell club. He also read a letter from Mr. Kenneth Jenne, Chair- man of the Board of County Commissioners, Broward County, Florida welcoming the Conchologists of America's members to Ft, Lauderdale and Broward County. In his letter of welcome, Mr. Jenne noted resi- dents in South Florida are proud of their marine resources, which corr tribute substantially to the recreation, food production and tourist industry. He welcomed a group, sucli as the C.0.A., who devotes much time to the study of the marine ecosystem and to conservation, and hoped we would have an enjoyable convention in Broward County, Who do members of the C, of A, always attend all meetings at the scheduled time? For the answer to this, the President introduced Mr, Wayne Stevens of Portland, Oregon, In addition to his duties as Chairman of Constitution and By-Laws Revision for the C,0.A., Mr, Stevens spent innumerable hours con- tacting and corresponding with United States publishers whose publi- cations specialize in, or include, the fields of Conchology, Malacol- ogy and subjects related to the sea, Through his efforts and the generosity of those publishers who responded, over seventy current publications valued at more than *Seattle, Washington (C .0.A, Historian) Aigist 2 1 G7 7 BULLETIN STAFF Editor: TOM RICE; P.0. Box 219; Port Gamble, WA, 96364 Associate Editors: MARY PALMER; 270 S, Cypress, =208; Pompano Beach, Florida 32060 EDITH OETZELL; 518 S, Ardmore Ave.; Villa Park, IL. 60181 LILLIAN HEMMIE; 700 St. Charles, =1411; Brownsville, Texas 78520 HERB YOUNG; P.O. Box 1931; Seattle, WA, 98111 bse B YOUNG. $800.00 were donated to the C .0.A. as door prizes. A listing of these publishers and their donated publications was made available to the members, who, if they were not the lucky recipients of a door prize(s), could order those publications applicable to their field of endeavor, and to those members who received a door prize(s), a note of thanks and appreciation to the particular publisher of the book(s) received, Mr. Stevens explained to the members their presence was a re- quirement at the time of a drawing to receive a door prize, their con- vention registration number being randomly selected by a member pre- sent. The drawing times to be announced prior to each day's meeting, The first speaker on the opening day's program was introduced by the President. Born on the island of Cyprus, a shoe-maker by trade, a shell auctioneer for 19 years in New York and, by avocation, amost knowledgeable personage of the Marginella Family - Mr, Nick Kat- saras, of New Jersey. Mr. Katsaras supplemented his presentation of the Marginella Family with outstanding colored slides, illustrations of the rare, not-so-rare, the common and uncommon varieties of the Marginella. He spoke of the various forms, relative physical sizes and the locale within the environment various species may be found, Nick consluded his presentation with a fine series of slides illus- trating a growth series of the slit shells, Pleurotomaria, An inkling of what was to be throughout the convention, when the President introduced the next speaker, she noting the scheduled time was 40 minutes past; Why attempt to keep to a time table when the program had such outstanding speakers, their vivid presentations, outstanding in their field of study and above all, the intense interest of the C 0 .A. members present in the subject matter wouldn't let the speakers quit until they fully exploited their informative programs, So, forty minutes later than his scheduled time to speak, the President introdticed Dr, Joel Greene, of San Francisco, his topic "Variations on a Theme" or as his presentation progressed, aberra- tions of the form of the various species of Mollusca, coloration and pattern from the norm, etc. all illustrated with slides, A few of the more aberrant forms of Cypraea tiqris illustrated via color slides ranged from albinistic through normal coloration to black. Shapes il- lustrated varied from the norm, to the extreme elongated, squashiness to grotesquely globular form, all the result. of Mother Nature's attempt to sustain life over any obstacle encountered in their environment, Continued on page 2 Ficiy MUSEUM LIBRARY CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN Continued from Page 1 His next series of slides were of the Volutes; also illustrating variations from the norm: shapes in the form of coke bottles, dextral versus sinistral, spine malformation and displacements. A continua- tion of spine malformation, placement on body of shell was presented by the series of pictures of the Murex family. But for this malforma- tion of spine variation, the ultimate would have to be his collection of the Strombus family, consisting of Lambis, e.g., L. scorpio with lustrations presented various color forms and maculations and perhaps the most outstanding - a Tibia fusus with two "tails"! His '"Variatiors OnA Theme" continued with slides illustrating aberrations of the Harpa, Drupa, Terebra, Mitra, Eptionium, Pecten and Latiaxis, Joel concluded his presentation with a description and slide illus - tration of a new species of the genus Lambis, the Lambis wheel- yurighbit discovered by him at Tawitawi, Sulu, Philippines. A comn- plete write up of this new species will be forthcoming in The Veliger. *kname deleted since species not officialy described at time. The last slide presented brought out the "oohs" and "aahs" of the members present, a picture of a perfect Cypraea guttata, a Cypraea valentia and a Conus gloriamaris - 150.5mm in length! %- The concluding speaker for the first day was then introduced by the President, Sally Bennett, Mr. William E. (Bill) Old, Jr., ofthe American Museum of Natural History, New York City. His topic, "World Wide Conidae". Mr, Old opened his presentation with a pre- view of the history of the Family Conidae, giving examples of the problems facing the early taxonomists, i.e., lack of communications and the time element involved in recognized publications, a known depository for named specimens and then the great problem of travel to personally compare an unknown species with one of probable characteristics , One example given - one cone had over one hundred species names! Via slides he showed how the taxonomists of today work with the miniature/immature specimens, study of the juvenile specimens, complete growth series, can accurately place a questionable speci- men in its correct taxonomic position within the genus, Continuing with pictorial illustrations, he showed specimens of various color with possible food intake, the feeding characteristics versus pattern identification, Also, the differences in pattern and/or color from the juvenile form to the adult stage, The pigment changes from the juve- nile to adult forms , Examples were also shown of one very wellknown cone, how it varied in coloration, shape and size from its environ- ment and the area where commonly found. This particular cone is known by over 25 different species names! Yet, it is one and the same. To conclude his all too short presentation, he gave a history of the Conus gloriamaris, noting this year is the two hundredth an- niversary of its naming. The first day's program concluded with Mr. Wayne Stevens con- ducting another of the book door-prize drawings. In closing the day, our President noted 57 members present, having arrived from the four corners of the continental United States and areas between, All mem- bers were then invited to room 1005 for a Welcoming Cocktail Party hosted by the Broward Shell Club. As throughout the Convention, the Broward Shell Club did an outstanding job and all present could only say, Well Done! No fellow fossikers, it isn't the quantity required, nor the vessel size, but the liquid components dictate that is shall be a plastic garbage container! If only the formula could have been remembered , The second day of the '77 C.0.A. Convention convened at the scheduled time, much to the chagrin of a few late risers, for, true to his word, our book chairman conducted another book drawing at the previously announced time of tena.m.. The President introduced the first speaker for the day's program, Mr. Kirk Anders of Ft, Lauder- dale, Florida, his subject: "Costa Rica - Three Worlds of Collec- ting... Mr. Anders illustrated his presentation with colored slides of the topography of Costa Rica, the flora and fauna that may be found, the various locations for the best shelling, the reefs, beaches and areas of best productivity for specimens desired and areas available for observation in their natural habitat, He showed the results of a typi- cal collecting day, the variety of species available and 'Wonder of Wonders" these pictures were all shown with the gastropod in its normal position of life, i.e. their anterior (head) at the top of the screen, posterior (apex) at the bottom. (Or was it by accident the Slides were in the projector up-side-down! ) After coffee break and another door prize given away (all were present when their numbers were called this time), the program chairman introduced Gerrie Walklet and her topic of "Australia's Great Barrier Reef", Ms. Walklet gave a brief resume of the trip to Australia, the sights on arrival, all well illustrated with slides, The trip of three weeks, in July of 1976, consisted of ten days dredging with Mr, Tom Nielsen, We thoroughly enjoyed her explanation of the problems involved in dredging, adversity of being aboard a craft in rough waters, especially sitting on the decks! The collecting and observation trip continued up the Queensland coast, with intermittent visits at Cairns, Oak Beach, spending time with their hosts Harry and Barbara Collins, thence to such famous collecting areas, and not so well-known areas, as Low Island, Four-Mile Beach, Green Island, Port Douglas, etc, After Gerrie showed, via slides, the specimens obtained on her Australian trip, all of the members pre- sent were contemplating how they could partake of such an adventure inthe future, With the exception of the rough water and vessel deckal Prior to the lunch break, the program chairman introduced Mrs. Mary Palmer, of Pompano Beach, Florida, and her part of the pro- gram, "Fossil and Present-Day Corals". Mary's contribution to the convention was an excellent display and explanation of the coral sur- rounding Florida and that found in the Florida fossil beds, Within the three cases of outstanding specimens displayed, were the com- parisons of the fossilized to present-time coral, The locale of the specimens, the era and the formations where they were obtained were all included, After a brief lunch and another door prize drawing, all members present again, the program chairman introduced Ruth Chester, her subject: "The Murex". Her very informative talk, along with speci - mens to illustrate the salient features, was of the largest genus of the Murex family; the Chicoreus. Briefly, she explained the morph - ology of the spines, the body formation, terminology, comparative analysis of the species worlwide and locale of the various species of the genus, The only problem with the program was that it was all too brief. Perhaps next year a continuation of the same subject, Ruth? From 1:55 until 3:15, the next speaker had a captive audience, for where else could a conchologist be and; visit all of the famous world museums, see a major portion of the holotypes of famous mollusk species, obtain an in-depth history of the world famous concholigists of the past 200 to 400 years (their lives, aspirations) and view some of the outstanding private collections, past and pre- sent - all via high quality color slides. Mr. William Old began his program with a pictorial presentation of the rare shells in the Ameri- can Museum of Natural History. If wishes could be granted, which one would you have picked? Continuation of "Jewels of the Seas" provided viewers a once-in-a-lifetime view of type specimens in various Academys, Universities, Museums, etc. in the United States and overseas, Mr. Old also showed photos of world famous conchologists, the museums of interest to conchologists (the British Museum of Natural History, museums in Frankfort and Berlin, in Switzerland, Denmark, etc.) and interspersed, a synopsis of the lives and works of the famous conchologists of the past three or four hundred years, many who worked in the museums shown, A brief coffee break, and seven more members became happy re- cipients of book door prizes. And then on with the program, CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN x "Sydney Cyphoma" was the topic of the "Cyphoma Man" Richard Sedlak, Mr. Sedlak's excellent contribution consisted of his ob- servations, descriptions and findings of Cyphoma sedlaki Cate, 1976 a new species found in the central area of the Florida Keys, He showed and explained the morphological differences between this and other related Cyphoma species, but perhaps of more interest were his observations of the animal in a home aquarium .The mantle of the ani- mal changed pattern from random spots to solid lines, then to broken lines and the line dimensions changed; at times a combination of spots and stripes would occur, For complete description of the shell and further information, Mr. Sedlak informed members they could read the October 1, 1976 edition of The Veliger. The final speaker of the day was our Program Chairman Kirk Anders and his topic "A Perfect Beginning". Mr. Anders opened his program by stating that the "genesis" of the Kirk Ander's Travel & Shell Touring Agency was his first visit to the island of Cozumel, Mexico, At the time of the visit, Cozumel was excellent for beginning collec- tors, both on the beaches and reefs, A haven for the snorkeler and the drift lines always had something exciting to be found, However, as he further explained, it may not be waht it used to be, due to the increase in commercialization and tourist activities, this of course, bringing in more people and the resultant degradation of the beaches via pollutants, etc, He showed, via color slides, some of the out- standing flora and fauna of the Cozumel area, At the conclusion of his presentation Mr, Anders recessed the convention for the day and reminded members present of the activities for the rest of the evening, which for those who attended was one of the outstanding events of the convention, The visit to the Mai Kai restaurant establishment in Ft, Lauderdale provided an outstanding evening of excellent entertainment, food and beverages, enjoyed by all. One highlight was an extemporaneous hula performed, with one ‘of the entertainers, by aC .O .A. member from California who shall remain nameless, but a job well done, B.B.! Mr. Anders invited members to his home for an open house and to see the locale of Shells of the Seas, Inc, Needless to say, those who attended left with a goodly number of "goodies" in the form of specimen shells, and a lighter wallet! The third day of the C .0.A. Convention was programmed to al- leviate "setitus", or soit seemed, for the program committee had field trips to the SeaQuarium and Planet Ocean, Other than one little black cloud ina perfect Floridian blue sky, twenty-two members thoroughly enjoyed their visitation to the SeaQuarium, and to the Planet Ocean, home of Sea Frontiers and Sea Secrets publications. The little black cloud, oh yes, that was the one immediately over bus number 498, for wouldn't you know it, the leader's "nemesis" struck again, inthe form of a tire blow-out! After waiting 42 minutes ona non-functi oning-air-conditioning-system bus, under the bright Florida sunshine, on Freeway at NW 5th and U.S. 95, our subsittute bus arrived, Lo and Behold - a Sun Lines Special from Phoenix, Arizona, Quick trip! ! But as usual with a group of shell collectors, the un- usual always happening, the time was well spent with all the telling each other's collecting problems, their finds, and hopes of future trips!!. By Bus yet!! Arriving back at the Ramada Inn, Convention headquarters, the trip members quickly joined the rest of the C .0.A, for the Annual Banquet, Held in the beautiful Phoenix Room atop the Inn, we en- joyed a beautiful sunset, party favors by the Broward Shell Club and dinner, Highlight of the evening was a preview of all the beautiful specimens to be auctioned within the hour, Specimen shells donated by attending members and by well-known dealers throughout the U.S, and overseas, quickly had members desirous to have the auction un- derway , Under the able direction of auctioncer Mr. Gary Magnotte, who by the way is author of "Shelling and Beachcombing in Florida and the Caribbean", helped out by Mr. Mike Cahill and Mr, Kirk Anders, the auction proceeded, The quality of those specimens up for auction and the expertise of the auctioneer quickly consumed the Be Les) evening tothe amount of $1,264 .00!! ‘Well done to all those in- volved with the auction", were the President's closing words as she brought to a close the activities of the third day of C.0.A,'77., The final day of programmed activily started exactly on schedule, with Mr, Wayne Stevens giving out more books, as members attend- ing were chosen by drawing their registration number, Mr, Kirk Anders then gave a pictorial slide presentation and talk on "Bonaire Collec - ting", His brief recitation included shelling and results thereof on the island of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, the Flamingo bird sanctuary, open market and shopping areas and the basic industry of the island, the open salt curing and processing. Our President, Sally Bennett, then presented a slide program ona visitation to the Sea of Cortez, Mexico mainland side, "Under Rocks at Low Tide", She also gave helpful hints on dredging, methods of using automobile inner tubes for easy lifting loaded dredges for examination of contents and some excellent photos of native ironwood carvings., Mr. Nick Jones then requested the C .0.A. members for their help and cooperation in his study of miniature Cypraea. He specifically wants information on Cypraea specics of a size smaller than listed in Burgess's "The Living Cowries", their location and listed size. Ms, Peggy Chapman, of Florida, using vivid slides and illustra- tions, gave an excellent presentation of "Dredging Off Ft. Lauderdale, Florida", The trials, tribulations and problems involved in dredge sizes, matching the boat size to the size of the dredge; how common tractor parts, lawnmowers stripped for parts, spare automobile parts, were all utilized in various configurations for dredging operations, The problems of sinking (!) the dredge and making it stay where you want it, were all ably explained, She showed species obtained only by dredging in 60 fins., she is interested primarily in those species of 32 to 5 mm size, As she explained, the system isn't perfect, but the best method and system in continued experimentation, After a brief lunch, and another book door prize drawing, the pro- gram continued with Ray Majors giving a talk on "Night Diving off Ft. Lauderdale, Florida", especially between the second and third reefs from the shoreline and examination of the areas for marine spe- cimens at and adjacent to the Ft, Lauderdale sewer outfalls! The President of the Broward Shell Club, Mr. Mike Cahill, con- tributed to the excellent program material with "Pectens of the World with Caribbean Emphasis", Besides excellent slides, Mr. Cahill had display cases of worldwide Pecten for members to examine, He is in the process of a compilation of the known species of Pecten, some 200 to 350 species - 45 known in the Florida area, He would be very grateful for any material and/or photographs of this Family, his address is 1509 NE 5th Ave., Ft, Lauderdale, FL, 33304, After a coffee/tea break, the program chairman, along with a thun- der and lightning storm, introduced the next speaker and topic "Carib- bean Cones" with Mr. William Old. This highly informative program onthe "New World" cones was a comparative analysis of the Panamic and Eastern Pacific species versus those of the Western Atlantic .No attempt will be made here to present all the information given, As usual Mr. Old kept all rapt with his expertise on the subject, A few highlights were the comparisons of subtidal and benthic Conus spe- cies of the Eastern Pacific versus Western Atlantic, in polymorphic and polychrome form, The analogy of various cone species, geo- graphical distribution covering sone 200,000 square miles and the paucity of work inthis particular area, especially in the Panamicwith only 8 newly named species inthe past 25 years, Eastern Pacific area now has 10 new taxon and the Western Atlantic 40 newly named species inthe same time period, His explanation of how taxonomists differentiate between some of the more confusing species was very enlightening, especially on juvenile fons, Again, all explanations were interspersed with beautiful color slides. Continued on the next page 4 CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN #1 The final speaker on the program was, again, Mr, Kirk Anders, who gave a brief synopsis of "West African Collecting", The trip, mainly in Senegal, and collecting within this area, produced out- standing varieties of Conus and Marginella species from the reefs, rocks, etc, As with all of Mr. Ander's program presentations, he showed slides of the flora and fauna of the countries visited , High- lights of various establishments and entertainment forms, all indigen- ous to the area vitied, were included, As all good things come to a close, so did the program presenta - tions for the 1977 C .0.A. Convention, at 4:17 p.m. with the final door prize drawing conducted by Mr. Stevens, A fitting climax to the convention was a tour set up by the converr tion chairman on the Ft, Lauderdale boat "Jungle Queen". A trip well worth the taking. A cruise down the waterways of the Ft, Lauderdale area, viewing the palatial homes, beautiful yachts of every size, shape and description, The piece de resistance was the evening dinner served at the turn-ahout point of the trip, where members en- joyed excellent food, all they could eat, an old-time vaudeville also precluded the trip back, Who, but a conchologist (?) would suggest during a sing-along going back, that a happy birthday be sung to the 200th anniversary of Gloria Maris ? The business meeting was held at 10 a.m. next morning. See the minutes of that meeting elsewhere inthis issue. Your Associate Editor would like to take this opportunity to thank each and all for the congeniality of the personnel contacted in the Broward Shell Club, those C .0.A, members who helped out so much and to those who made the 6th Annual Convention of the C .0.A. such a success, Hopefully, I've not been remiss in inadvertently deleting any ma- ‘terial relevant to a specific program and/or speaker, for there were a few times | was absent from the program in progress taking care of a "Bimini Burn"! It may look peculiar to the natives of your sunshine area, but the next time this person, so susceptible to sunburn, has the pleasure of exploring your beautiful waters and beaches, and snorkeling in the water with brilliant skies above, he is going to be wearing at least the bottom half of his scuba suit used in the Pacific Northwest! ! To fully appreciate the material presented and the expertise of its presentation, | for one can only say, join the C .0 .A, and attend the conventions in person, CU in '78! Herb Young photo You say the slide projector doesn't work ? Well, we'll give the pro- gram anyway! (Actually, looking at transparant proofs of James White's new book at the C.0.A.'76 Convention in Portland ,) 1 NEW MEMBERS WELCOME! The following additional members should be added to the C .0.A. roster, Tell your shelling friends about C .O.A, and get them to join, Tammy Bauder; 1105 Loxley Lane; Allentown, PA; 18103 Sue Bethel; 2710 NE 14th St., 1A; Ft, Lauderdale, FL. 33304 Burry's Shell Museum; 1212 S. Ocean Blvd.; Pompano Beach, FL. 33062 Michael Cahill; 1509 NE 5th Ave.; Ft, Lauderdale, FL. 33204 Ruth & Earl Chesler; 7401 SW 7th St.; Plantation, FL. 33317 Vincent Cusmano; 309 Court St.; Brooklyn, N.Y.11231 Phyllis J. Diegel; 1611 .N. Congress Ave.; West Palm Beach, 33409 George G. Gallagher; 18 Swarthmore Ave.; Stratford, NJ. 08084 Eleanor Geves; 3106 NW 3rd Ave., #3; Pompano Beach, FL, 33064 Pat Glickstein; 504 Greenway; North Palm Beach, FL. 33403 Robert Katz; 136 Hicks St.; Brooklyn, N.Y, 11201 Susan Gray; 3943 Cornell Way; Eugene, Oregon 97405 Herbert R. Koller; 2700 Virginia Ave. NW; Washington, D.C, 20037 Long Island Shel! Club; c/o Marty Lerner; 64 Thompson Ave,; Oceanside, N.Y. 11572 R.D.McCurdy; Box 46; Broadus, Montana 59317 Mary Beth Maier; 4197 Brookhollow Dr.; Abilene, Texas 79605 Mrs. Constance A, Marafino; 11 Richard St.; Barrington, R.!. 02806 Carole Marshall; $32 Cochran Dr.; Lake Worth, FL. 33461 Vivian Mestey; Ave. San Patricio#802; Las Lomas, Puerto Rico 00921 Walter E. Murray; 102 Miner St.; Hudson, PA, 18705 John Navratil; P.O. Box 194; Sedalia, Colorado 80135 Miss Noel Phillips; P.O. Box 388; Waitsfield, Vermont 05673 Joseph Powers, Sr.; 714 Sheffield Dr.; aSnvireiie ld OH, 45506 Mary Russell; Bon 5181; Fy, vauderdale: Fi eS 210 John D, Shearer; 19215 Iris St.; Lakewood, Colorado 80215 Edwin W, and Renate Wittig Skinner, Sr.; c/o Carolina Leaf T obac- coCo.; P.O. Box 137; Greenville, N.C. 27834 Elizabeth Snyder; 1531 SW 67th Ave.; Pompano Beach, FL. 32068 Sandy Gordon Stiebel; 550 Rambler ane; Highland Park, IL, 60035 Margaret Teskey; P 0. Box 273; Big Pine Key, FL. 33042 Louise Van Scoyoc; 2640 E. Coast Hwy.; Corona del Mar, CA, S2625 George Weitlauf; c/o Ciba-Geigy; P.O. Box 5513; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Phyllis Welling; 2608 NW 5th Ave.; Ft, Lauderdale, FL, 33311 Fi hes ADDRESS CHANGE Carl Withrow; 6720 25th Terr. N.; St. Petersburg, FL. 33710 NAME CHANGE Roseltha Stevens, from Roseltha Pelk; address remains same HENs wih Did you pick up your group photograph at the C 0 .A, Convention in Ft, Lauderdale? If you paid for a photograph and didn't pick it up, please mail 50¢ to Kirk Anders (to cover postage & envelope) and he'll mail you your copy, P.O, Gox 1418; Ft, Lauderdale, FL. 2350 2; EDITOR'S CORNER Another small corner left as the time draws near to take the Bulletin tothe printer, Just enough space to say thanks to those who have _ contributed to making this issue possible and to ask the rest of you to send in your articles, As temporary editor it really helps to have your article here for the next issue in December, Send your material to C.0.A. Bulletin, c/o Tom Rice; P.O. Box 219; Port Gamble, Washington 98364, New York, Hope we'll see all of you at C .0.A, '7& on Long Island, CUNCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN BRONZED COMBAT BOOTS CHERYL RICHARDSON Shelling on the island of Guam, inthe Mariana Islands, requires a special type of footware, Tennis shoes just don't make it! My hus- band looked at me somewhat askance when | asked him if he would purchase a pair of combat boots for me. When | took him out shelling for the first time, it did not take him long to appreciate the advantage of combat boots over tennis shoes, The rough Staghorn Coral, the possibility of Stone and Turkey Fish and the black long-spined Sea Urchins, were enough to convince him that | definitely needed a pair of combat boots, The next day he brought home my most treasured gift. | put the boots on and found them to be the most comfortable foot- wear | have ever worn, They make walking the reef almost as easy as walking ona three-inch carpet. Not only that, but the boots brought me good luck, if one can believe that. | had not been too successful seven different species of cowries! They were C, helvola, C. mactr lifera, C. erosa, C. carneola, C. vitellus, C. poraria and C . caput- serpentis. This experience made me realize how much | love my boots, and | never wanted to take them off. However, my husband persuaded me that | would be more comfortable in bed if | removed them. At the risk of endangering a marriage, | regretfully agreed to remove them at bedtime. These boots took me across the various reefs of Guam faithfully for two years. | really never had any particular crisis which support- ed my logic for wearing my ‘magic boots". Then it happened. | was | was about five feet away from my shelling partner. | felt something tightly grab the bottom of my left foot, | looked down, and there was this large fish attached tome. My instant reaction was to wipe it off in exactly the same manner one does when they step into a fresh cow-pie. This | did, for what seemed to be an eternity at the time -- probably all of which lasted sixty seconds. Strange as it may seem to most who know me, | did not let our a yell or scream. | guess | was too busy trying to wipe this thing off my foot . Finally it released me. | caught my breath and yelled to Barb, "I think | was attacked by a shark." She agreed, because it had just hit her above her boot and she was very sore. She had seen it clearly and said it was a baby White Tip Shark. | really did not see it closely when it was attached to my foot as | was not about to stand still and wait a- round for someone to take a picture. | was busy scraping my foot against the coral rock, hoping to force the shark to release its grip. This stirred up the muddy bottom, making visibility impossible, Afterwards, we examined the boot and saw the teeth marks and hole left by the two-foot shark, It was at this point that | freaked out!! There are going to be some of you who read this and doubt the sanity of two women, But to reassure you, the woman | was with had excellent credentials. She is assigned each year to go into Scuba Cut, where the sharks take up permanent residence, to give the all clear sight for the Base Commander to open the beached and diving areas to the divers. Furthermore, | have seen her underwater photographs of different species of sharks which she has encountered, These are not the babies, but the "biggies"! All| know is that | have always had deep respect for this very brave woman, No way am | going to be around when there is a shark nearby. Do you want to see someone walk on water? That would be me, Anyway, after the story had spread around the island my boots be came a pcpular item everyone wanted to see . Afterwards the realiza- tion hit that the shark had finally let go due to the steel plate in the sole, After his computer-brain decided he wasn't going to get through he released his hold, My magin boots could not be worn any more. So they are presently bronzed, sitting next to my Golden Cowry., Now that | think about it, maybe | should have them gold-plated! CORAL REEFS -OFF FLORIDA MARY PALMER Standing on the beach at Pompano, one can cee a line of break - waves one-half mile offshore, as far north and south as the eye can see, Those waves cover a beachrock ridge which was formerly a shoreline during a period of sea level fluctuation dating back to 100,000 to 150,000 years ago. A shallow, 10-foot, natural breakwater is formed by the outermost ridge which acts like a barrier reef, East of the ridge arc three coral reefs with troughs between the 2nd and 3rd, filled with sand, Scattered colonies of living corals are found on all three, but during storms these corals suffer from the sand being swept over them. Beach erosion is a problemin Florida and every few years, when the big commercial dredges attach their pipes, shellers come rushing out of the woodwork . The rewards have been excellent from sand and rock pumped ashore through the pipes . Working between two reefs and penctrating to a depth of 20 feet below the ocean floor, 507 species of shells and 35 species of dead coral were collected and identified in 1970. In the Pompano Beach / Fort Lauderdale area, the reefs are de- scribed as barrier reefs, By definition, a barrier reef rises from the water forming a massive wall and is separated from shore by a deep channel, The previously mentioned ridges are composed of beach sand cemented by calcite into stratified rock and date back to the Anastasia Formation, a Sangamon coquina shell sandstone , During the Pleistocene Ice Age, sca level was lowered by glacial advancement as much as 350-400 feet. This left reefs exposed to die, Over long periods of time these platforms suffered weathering from rain and wind, with periodic floodings and exposures, Reefs which grew during all these changes formed rock 100 feet thick, producing the base for coral reefs off the Florida Keys. Part of these reefs still remain exposed and form the line of keys from Miami to Key West. A coral reef is not only composed of coral, but is a living com- munity of calcareous algae, mollusca, worms and bryozoa, all play- ing an important role in reef-building. The corals classified as reef-builders are of the Order Scleractinia and possess a symbiotic algae .called Zooxanthellae, This algae requires light for growth and corals are limited to shallow, warm, tropical seas. Strong sunlight and a temperature range between 61 and 97 degrees F. is necessary for survival, Inthe Florida Keys, Aeropora palma (Elk Horn) is the most common coral, Both Pompano Beach and Ft, Lauderdale, being literally a net- work of canals, provide the biggest source of pollution to the reefs; chiefly by draining into the rivers which empty their muddy sediment and brackish water through Port Everglades and Hillsboro Inlet, As cold water is also a killer to reefs, each winter "cold snap" adds more hazard, "Silting" inthe Florida Keys slowly eradicates colonies by suffocation with a fine blanket of sand, Drainage of beackisl water from the Everglades adds to its destruction, Corals can not grow on the shallow muddy bottoms on the west coast of Florida, but divers have found a coral reef growth in depths of 50-150 feet off the Tarpon Springs area, The fact that corals are obtained from fossil sites indicates that coral colonies flourished in shallow warm seas that covered Southern Florida millions of years ago. Thirty-four species of fossil coral have been identified, All Florida coral is protected by law, with a stiff penalty ($500) and the days of vandalism are ending. At last, with partial protec- tion from man, the reefs have a chance to live and grow in all their beauty. There are now 49 species thriving off the area, CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN Continued from page 8 Charles E, Tuttle Co., continued Beneath New Zealand Seas by Wade Doak Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos by Alan Davidson Florida Marine Shells by C.N. & NLR, Vilas A Guide to Shell Collecting in the Kwajalein Atoll by Brost & Coale The Handbook of Australian Sea Birds by Vincent & Warham Marine Fishes of New Zealand by Heath and Moreland New Zealand Seashells in Colour by Penniket & Moon Pacific Sea Shells by Spencer Wilkie Tinker Seashore Life in New Zealand by Heath and Dell Sea Shell Parade by A. Gordon Melvin Sea Shells of Sri Lanka by P. Kirtisinge Sea Shells of the World with values by A.G. Melvin Sharks and Rays by Tinker and DuLuca Shell Collector's Guide by Ruth Fair The Shore Fishes of Hawaii by Jordan and Everman Thinking Dolphins, Talking Whales by Frank Robson The Wonder Book of Australian Animals by A.W, Weed ” Pacific Marine Life by DeLucca and MacIntyre Viking Press; 625 Madison Ave.; New York, N.Y. 10022 Shells in Colour by R. Tucker Abbott and K , Sandved Shells by Andreas Feininger and Wn. K. Emerson Western Publishing Co., Inc.; 850 3rd Ave.; New York, NY 10022 Sea Shells of North America by R, Tucker Abbott Windward; P.O. Box 371005; Miami, Florida 33137 The Shell Book by Sandra D, Romashko The Magic of Sea Shells by Fredlee A special thanks from the C.0.A.toR. Wayne Stevens who con- tacted and persuaded these publishers to send such a bounty of titles for use as door prizes! wave following back towards the deep, until finally the oncoming wave has no reserve left for increasing its magnitude and must topple But it does not crash formlessly. At that moment when it is under- mined by the increasing force of the undertow, the wave bends for- wafd, In cross-section it momentarily forms the pattern of the logarithmic spiral with the crest curving in and under to place its apex at the center of gravity. This figure perpetually repeated by waves as they mount the beach - forms the identical curve that you you find in the cone, conch, cowrie and Nautilus shells The stirring quality of the design lies in its action, It is not in- ert, Even though the spiral of the shell is physically stationary, it has a point of origin, called a nucleus or protoconch, from which it springs, whirling toward an infinitely greater magnitude , You may say that architects, engineers and sculptors borrow from the snail and the scallop their dynamic curves to animate marble with fluidity and living beauty. The curve of the shell is one of the simplest of all curved. Its proportions may be defined by a mathematical formula, Its discipline is rigid, The diameter of the coiled tube will grow in exact propor- tion to its length, A beautiful example of this is inthe Chambered Nautilus, The control of its proportion is so perfect that each new coil is exactly 3 times the width of the coil preceding it. Another type of shell may incrwase at a much slower rate - a Terebra may increase the diameter of its coil at the rate of one and one quarter times each turn, At the other extreme - the Abalone multiplies its coil diameter by ten, at each complete revolution, This is partly a purely mathematical proposition, because the Aba- lone curve widens so fast that the shell never gets around itself, It Continued on page 8 #1) 6 THE STRUCTURE OF SEA SHELLS LILLIAN HEMMIE Shells are the external skeleton or exoskeleton of the soft-bodied animals, If they are removed the animal dies, The animal makes use of the dissolved calcium and other minerals in the water around them to make their shells. The fluid shell material is secreted by special glands in the mantle of the mollusk. As this fluid comes in contact with air or water it hardens into the shell, very much like concrete in forms, only much faster. The mollusk builds its shell as uncon- sciously as we build our own bony skeleton, It builds it little by little, depositing material at the edge of the mantle, therefore the shell pattern will correspond with the shape of the mantle, The mol- lusk starts building its shell whem several weeks old - the baby whelk stays inside the tough egq case until they form a shell, which is the topmost spire of the shell, It gets lime from the food they eat and from soil or water in which they live. The mantle lays downa coating of carbonate of lime and magnesium for a framework of conch- yollin or Keratin, The shell is made in three or more layers - the inner nacreous, the prismatic and the periostracum, the latter is pro- duced by a different lobe of the mantle, Sculpturing and ornamentation is produced at the edge of the mantle, Irregularities or injury at the edge of the mantle will show at the edge of the lip of the shell, Successive stages of growth remain onthe shell by distinct growth lines. The periostracim prevents marine growths and acid from damaging the shell, The animal is held inthe shell by strong columellar muscles that originates on the axial columella, follows the right side of the body into the foot and attaches to the underside of the operculum, this muscle retracts the animal into the shell, Color is influenced by light and temperature , Various patterns of pigmentation such as dots, circles, etc., are produced in the shell by migration of color-depositing cells along the edge of the mantle, If a pigment center on the edge of the mantle remains in the same position and continually colors the shell, a simple stripe will be formed, if the pigment cell wanders across the edge of the mantle an oblique stripe will be produced, etc. The food they eat also governs color. The shell grows rapidly the first year or two, if food is abundant, and continues to grow during its lifetime, maybe one or 25 years, The Tridacna clam lives as long as a hundred years. Some mollusks develop spines to keep fish and other animals from swallowing them, Juveniles are thin, with thin lips and often so different from the adults that they are often mistaken for different species. Some form an outer lip, a varix or axial ridge between periods of growth or rest. 50% of life is spent in the varix stage, as additional growth takes place in less that two days! At cach stage in the growth of the shell - a varix or rib might be produced and the position and total number of these ribs are used in the identification. However, some snails dissolve the thickened outer lip before making an addition to the shell, The operculum has growth rings that correspond with those of the shell, When the animal dies the operculum disintegrates and is lost, When the 2rd cell of the embryo is formed on the right side of the first two cells, the shell will be right-handed, Ifthe 3rd cell is formed on the left side of the first two cells, the shell will be left- handed which is rare. In most shell animals the heart is on the left side of the body when it is resting on the foot, that side is more ac- tive, soit builds up the shell on the opposite side, the right-handed side, Looking at a wave, as it advances into shallow water, it is push- ed up, growing higher and steeper from the opposition of the spent Continued at bottom of column to the left, CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN ry MINUTES OF C.0.A. 1977 BUSINESS The annual business meeting of the sixth convention of the Conch- ologists of America was called to order by the President, Sally Bennett, at 10:03 a.m, Sunday, July 24, 1977 at the Ramada Inn in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Minutes of the last business meeting held in Portland, Oregon in June 1976 were read and approved as was the treasurer's report, Marjorie Stevens, Vice-President and Membership Chairman, made her report showing the Conchologists of America at the end of the Virginia Beach convention with a membership of 101, at the end of the Portland convention with a membership of 146 and at the end of the Fort Lauderdale convention with a membership of 300, Under new business the nominating committee appointed by the President and consiting of Herb Young, Mary Palmer and Bill Old, presented the following slate of officers: President Kathe Daniels; Apollo, Pennsylvania Vice-President Marjorie Stevens; Portland, Oregon Secretary Jennie Welcome; Douglas, Arizona Treasurer Gerry Walklet; Bellair Beach, Florida Bill Old moved that the nominations be closed and George Buchi- noff moved that the Secretary be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for the election of the slate as presented by the Nominating Committee It was seconded by Wilma Young, passed and was so carried out by the Secretary. The new officers were introduced, Sally Bennett turned the meeting over to Wayne Stevens, Constitu- _tion and Bylaws Chairman. Copies of proposed revisions to the Con- stitution and Bylaws had been sent to every member for study in advance of the meeting. At this time additional copies were given to those in attendance, Wayne prefaced with this explanation: "C .0.A. over the past several years has shown remarkable growth, With growth has come new problems coupled with old interpretations of what were some of the purposes or intents of the original.C onstitution when drafted, adpoted and subsequently piecemeal amended. Due to the quantitative number of changes from the original Constitution no attempt was made to revise the original Constitution on an item-by- item basis, Your suggestions or constructive criticism are most welcome ." His proposed revisions were as follows: Article 1, Name and Office - no change Ae es Article Il, Purpose media of annual meetings" and substitute "research projects"; change 'nalocology" to "malacology". Article lit, Membership Sec. 2 (Describing four classes of membership) (a) in line 2 add "s'" to "publication", (b) "21" be amended to read "18" years of age, Add "s" to "oublication" in line 3, (c) Add "s" to "publication" in line 2, Article IV, Elected Officers Sec. 1 Delete entirely and substitute the following: The Board shall consist of the newly elected President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and the immediate Past President. The Editor of the Bulletin shall also serve on the Board, but without a vote, #11 7 MEETING Article VIL, Nomination of Officers - no change Article Vill, Election Sec. 1 line 1, following the word "vote" insert "of members in good standing", Article 1X, no change Article X, Resolutions and Amendments - no charge Article X!, Changes in the Constitution Sec. 1 line 2, following the word "those" insert the word "pre - sent and qualified to vote". Sec. 2, add "Amendinents may also be made by a 2/3 affirmative reply mail vote on any proposed amendment approved for publica- tion by the Board, The Board shall have the right to establish a deadline date for voting tabulation." 1 Article Xil, Changes in Bylaws - no change Wayne moved that we hereby repeal in its entirety the original Constitution of The Concliologists of America and by the same vote accept the new Constitution duly considered at this meeting. This was seconded by Jolin Rathbun and was passed by more than a 2/3 vote of those present, The Bylaws were next for consideration, especially Article | Sec. 2, regarding membership dues, Phil Schneider proposed a sliding scale of membership dues with the following, all ona yearly basis: Individual Membership 3 .00 Husband and wife Membership 5 .00 Family membership, consisting of parent or parents at one address ZA00 One Parent and children 5,00 Two parents and children 7.00 Honorary membership 3.00 He moved its acceptance, This was seconded by Bill Olds and was voted down. Kirk Anders moved that family membership under Article |, Sec, 2, line 2 be changed from $7 .00 to $5.00. This was seconded by Joel Greene and passed. Wayne moved that the Bylaws except for Article 1, Sec, 1 and 2 and Article 11 Sec, 1 inclusive should by a separate vote be duly accepted with the understanding that the Procedural Manual presently in preparation shall serve as a guideline only for the ensuing year and subject to consideration and possible adoption in Bylaws form at the 1978 annual business meeting, This was seconded by Kathe Daniels and passed , Wayne Stevens further moved that the Board shall be empowered to seek and procure non-profit status for the C.0.A. This passed, after being seconded by Kathe Daniels. Wayne said that Bernard Pipher, Tekamah, Nebraska, had been approached to look into this, The meeting was returned to Sally Bennett. A convention invitation was received from Martin Lerner of the Long Island Shell Club in Lonq Island, New York, Wayne Stevens moved and Veronica Parker Johns seconded the motion that the offer be accepted, Acceptance was unanimous, flartin Lerner is to serve as Convention Chairman, The time is to be specified later. Kathe Daniels suggested that we keep an eye out in the news - papers for legislation in reqard to conversation and write the proper person about it. It is too late to write in supporting the Endangered CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA BULLETIN Species Act. Continued from page 6 Sally Bennett announced that Herb Young, Seattle, Washington, is merely a short segment of the spiral, This type of spiral has a re- had agreed to serve as Historian for the coming year and that Martin markable property. It can increase by growing at one end only, and Lerner of the Long Island Shell Club will be functioning as Club News} always retain without change the form of the entire figure, The animal Editor for the Bulletin, Hopefully all club news publications will be | builds a house which each increment is forever dead, rigid material , sent to him for interesting articles to reprint inthe Bulletin, Yet this structure, added to at one end only continues to grow as if by magic appearing to ee Kathe Daniels, newly elected President, took the chair for a few grow all over, Thus minutes to speak of her plans and hopes for the coming year. the tens of thousands of shell forms are are a eee Sally Bennett moved that a vote of thanks be given Kirk Ariders, rooted in the simpli- 1977 Convention Chairman and Mike Cahill and the Broward Shell city of a curve with a Club for the tremendous effort put forth by many in making the pre- simple formula gov- sent convention such an outstanding success, She also expressed erning its proportions, he gratitude to the outgoing officers of C.O.A, The meeting ad- journed at 11:50 a.m. SEPTUM Faye and Jolin Rathbun, Secretary CONCHOLOGISTS OF AMERICA SAY THANK YOU!! The Conchologists of America wishes to acknowledge each of the Hawthorne Books, Inc.; 260 Madison Ave.; New York, N.Y. 10016 publishers, listed below, and to express our appreciation for the The Spell of the Shell by Martha Keeling Hodgson books listed which they have contributed as door prizes at the C .0. mn A. Ft. Lauderdale 1977 Convention, Houghton Mifflin Co,; 2 Park St.; Boston, Massachusetts 02107 Harry N, Abrams, Inc.; 110 E. 59th; New York, N.Y. 10010 The Shell, Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design Alfred A. Knopf; 201 E. 50th St.; New York, N.Y. 10022 by Hugh and Marguerite Stix and R. Tucker Abbott The American Museum of Natural History Guide to Shells: Land, Freshwater and Marine from Nova Scotia to Florida American Malacologists; P.O. Box 4208; Greenville, DE,19807 The Best of the Nautilus, edited by R, Tucker Abbott Naturegraph Publications; 8339 W. Dry Creek Rd.; Healdsburg, CA, American Malacologists 1734-1975, R. Tucker Abbott andM, Gems of World's Oceans by A. Gordon Melvin G5448 . Young American Malacologists, 1975 Supplement Of Sea and Shore Publications; P.O, Box 33; Port Gamble, WA, Living Marine Mollusks, by C.M. Yonge and T .E, Thompson Starfish by Furlong & Pill 98364 Edible? Incredible! by Furlong & Pill Binford & Mort; 2536 SE 11th; Portland, Oregon 97202 - Beach Animals by Robinson What is a shell? by Tom Rice Seashells of the Pacific Northwest by James White Marine Shells of the Pacific Coast by Tom Rice A Sheller's Directory of Clubs, Books, Periodicals & Dealers — Chas. T. Branford & Co.; 28 Union St.; Box 41; Newton Center, Massachusetts 02159 Price Stern Publ., Inc.; 410 N, LaCienega Blvd.; Los Angeles, The Shell Book by Julia E. Rogers The Shell Coloring Book by Heller CA. 90048 Delaware Museum of Natural History; Department of Mollusks; Sportsshelf and Soccer Assoc .; Box 634; New Rochelle, NY 10802 Greenville, Delaware 19807 Australia Seashelts by John Child Index Nudibranchia, A Catalogue of the Literature, H.D. Russell ¢ <