Dear Shellers,
Members of the genus Fontigens are cave dwelling aquatic snails.  One is
illustrated on the cover of the work "Missouri Aquatic Snails" by
Shi-Kuei Wu, Ronald Oesch and Mark Gordon, Conservation Commission of
the State of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO: 1997).  The shell pictured on
the cover was collected by Frieda Shilling, a still active member of the
Greater St. Louis Shell Club. She recently donated her massive
collection to the Field Museum.
In reference to Tom's comments, in Cuba, saw the Chondropometes dangling
by a thread from the limestone outcropping in Pinar del Rio Province.
This was an exciting to see and an interesting phenomenon, but the shell
was not associated with caves.

Alan Gettleman
Merritt Island, FL

"The most interesting molluscs are found not in the oceans, but in the
lakes and rivers, forest and fields of the world."

 Thomas Watters wrote:
>
> Some annulariids dangle from the roofs of caves by threads of hardened
> mucous. And Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is a great place to collect, at least
> around the various openings. Finally, I have been IDing snails collected by
> a graduate student doing research on cave fauna in the Great Smokies. All
> sorts of species get in but so far nothing that doesn't occur outside as
> well. But the question is how far do they get in? The mouths of caves are
> generally moist and cool, supporting abundant snail-food. But deep inside I
> would imagine the green food gives way to fungus. Anyone else know the
> answer to this?
>
> At 02:40 PM 03/30/2000 +0000, you wrote:
> >I'd like to know if there are any known molluscan inhabitants of caves?
> >i have heard there are some Clausiidae in Japaneese caves, but do not
> >know if they just hang out near the entrance or not.  Can anyone
> >enlighten the list and me on this topic?
> >-Ross.
> >--
> >Ross Mayhew: Schooner Specimen Shells:
> >Http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com
> >"We Specialize in the Unusual"
> >Phone: (902) 876-2241; Fax: (603) 909-8552.
> >But try to find "something for Everyone"!!
> >Snail Mail: 349 Herring Cove Rd, P.O Box 20005, Halifax, N.S., Canada,
> >B3R 2K9.
> >
> *****************************************
>  G Thomas Watters, PhD
>  Ohio Biological Survey &
>  Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
>  Ohio State University
>  1315 Kinnear Road
>  Columbus, OH 43212 USA
>  v: 614-292-6170  f: 614-292-0181
> ******************************************
>
> "The world is my oyster except for months with an 'R' in them" - Firesign
> Theater
>
> "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he
> has to buy a license" - GTW
>
> "God knows everything - he's omnivorous" - Homer Simpson