Dear Conch-L Friends:
I know I am not supposed to express my embarrassment publically and ask your
forgiveness for posting a private response to a Conch-L email, but I do ask your
forbearance. I find I am joining that ever growing group of folks who have not
looked at the address before hitting the send button.  I did not mean to mention a
specific medical condition in the reply, but having been hospitalized several
times with asthma, I have great sympathy for those also are afflicted with that
disease.
To make my apology a shell related message:
I just got back from the U.S. midwest, where the deciduous trees are turning a
beautiful color, especially the Hard (Sugar) Maples, the weather is crisp and
cool, and would make you long to live there if you did not know a cold, snowy
winter followed autumn.  However,  for those in temperate climates, this is a
wonderful time of the year.  The falling leaves do make collecting freshwater
molluscs more difficult, obscuring the water, and also the water is getting
colder.  Question: I found a Villosa (female)  in the upper St. Francois River in
Missouri.  Does anyone know right at hand which sp. that might be?
In my private email, I mentioned the Miami Shell Club auction, which is this
Saturday night.  I have attended the last two annual auctions, and they have some
great shells and the prices are very, very reasonable.  I can put you in touch
with some of the Miami folks (or if you are interested in a specific shell, I have
a copy of their auction list) if you have any questions.
Lastly, a beautiful new edition of the American Conchologist just arrived.  It has
a concentration on land shells, and a wonderful centerfold of some of the U.S.
Liguus.  Two questions: Neil Fahy, land shell collector extraordinare wrote on his
trip to Central America: "Some, like me, don't cook, so we have to travel."  I
missed the import of that.  Also on the last page are photographs of a Liguus and
an Orthalicus intertwined with the commentary that they were mating.  I thought
Orthalicus was a predator of Liguus and the interest of the Orthalicus was
culinary instead of amorous.  Am I wrong on that?
Alan Gettleman
Merritt Island, FL