Hello!
 
Hi to all,
 
Here is a very good piece of advice, answer etc etc as posted on the
MOLLUSCA list;
 
AS POSTED---
 
Subject:
        How to become an expert
  Date:
        Thu, 18 Jun 1998 11:54:24 -0700
  From:
        "D.R. Lindberg" <[log in to unmask]>
    To:
        Multiple recipients of list <[log in to unmask]>
 
 
> Curators, can you tell us how an intact, well-preserved specimen compares
> in scientific value to an empty gem shell of the same species?
 
IMHO:  The scientific value does not rest in the object, but rather the
intellectual and creative abilities of the observer be they "a
malacologist,
lettered or not."  In the right hands the smallest fragment of a mollusc
that died 540 million years ago can tell us more about mollusks then the
largest collection of "gem shells."
 
Best, David
 
David R. Lindberg
Professor, Dept. of Integrative Biology
Director, UC Museum of Paleontology
http://ucmp1.Berkeley.Edu/davidl/
 
 
Later,
 
Emilio Jorge Power