Dear Ross, Dear Angela,

I wanted to tell you that in Austria, Italy eg we have a lot of nice and interesting landshells too, but they aren't
so colored as most of the exotic species. The reason for me why they are not so popular, it need sometimes
a lot of work to collect and to clean them, they are not so spectacular as some marine shells, they are
less eye catcher in the view of those who will build up esthetic collection, sometimes harder to classify and
there is also less literature on it. There might be many reasons. I could send you some nice species of
Euopean landshells after summer, as I will start to collect now in Austria and Italy. I can send you from
micro-landshells about 1, 5 - 3 mm up to these with about 20 - 30 mm. I can send you a nice selection
of species about 50 - 100 including most families from Austria, Italy, dinaric states, Greece, eg.
But all after summer after september.
with best shelling greetings
Helmut from Innsbruck



Helmut "Helix" Nisters
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Innsbruck
phone and fax: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
web:    www.netwing.at/nisters/
           (please visit it and sign guestbook)

office:
Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
Feldstrasse 11 a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37

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Dear Ross,

UP WITH THE LAND SNAILS!!!

I agree with you, the land snails I see in the course of my work, are
incredible! Every time I find a new specimen its like a new adventure. Most
of my snails are collected live so I can see the movement and behavior of
the snails as well, which is a real bonus.

Angela Lush

Excited in Australia!

-----Original Message-----
From: Ross Mayhew [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, 10 May 2000 10:59 am
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Landsnails - why not as popular??


I have been doing some work with land snails recently, and find myself
wondering "why aren't these guys WAY more popular than they seem to
be???"  Cowries are downright boring by comparison (ok, they are shiny -
so is glass!!)!!  There are more species of land molluscs than there are
marine, and the sheer variety of forms is just knocking me out.

I understand that in the nineteenth century, land snails (and
Epitoniids!)  were all the rage - so what happened - and are these
incredibly varied shells making a comeback slowly but surely??

Always curious in Canada,
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"!!
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B3R 2K9.