Art, sir:

You certainly sound ominous, and I thoroughly
believe in Archy, I do (said with appropriately
somber and respectful demeanor).  The thing I love
most in life is to try and make room for yet *more*
books in my little house - I swear, they reproduce
while my back is turned.  At the risk of listening
to you, what shell books do you recommend?  I swear
to adhere to the culture of this list and ignore
you, I promise.

Tink *~*~*   :-)


----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, August 17, 2003 9:38 pm
Subject: Re: Introduction and Greetings from Long
Island, NY

> My dear "Tink";-
>   You have received some very good advice from
some very
> knowledgeable people.
>   My own advice would be: do NOT buy
shells---until you have
> purchased BOOKS. A decent shell library is as
necessary as an
> olive in a martini, a cherry in a manhatten, or a
pointed splinter
> in a shish ka bob.
>   The other thing you must learn is that I am the
one person in
> this shell community that you should never listen
to. I lie,
> invent, misrepresent, and fantacize. For instance:
just today, I
> had to go into the basement and inform Archy
Toothless, my pet
> giant squid, that people didn't believe in him.
Tch, tch.
>   Welcome to the web.
>     Art
> >
> > From: Erin White <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: 2003/08/16 Sat PM 08:59:29 EDT
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Introduction and Greetings from Long
Island, NY
> >
> > Hello to all at CONCH-L!  I'm very glad to have
found this list.
> >
> > My name is Erin, but my friends call me Tink.  I
am a fairly
> newbie shell collector who hails from Long Island,
New York.  I
> enjoy the act of shelling because I find it
soothing and relaxing,
> and because there is some beautiful stuff to be
found.  The joy of
> the hunt can be exhilirating.
> >
> > You'd think coming from an Island, I'd have
found lots of shells
> here at home, but that is not the case.  The bay
beaches can yield
> some snails around the jetties or maybe some clam
halves, but
> that's about it here.  I've been going to Sanibel
the past three
> summers, and even though it is "off season" for
shells in the
> summer, I still find some treasures.
> >
> > I'm going to poke in the archives here for a
while to see what I
> can learn, but I've got two questions right off
the bat:
> >
> > 1.  I've only ever taken empty shells found on
the beach, on
> sand bars, or in the shallows.  I understand from
reading on the
> internet that some people will take a live shell.
 I'm not sure
> what I think of this.  First, there is the "ick"
factor of having
> to pull the animal out of the shell.  Second, I'm
not sure if it
> quite sits right with me to kill something just
because you want
> it's shell.  Somehow, it just doesn't seem fair.
I've even seen
> comments around the internet that would indicate
to me that it is
> more of a "find" if the animal is still inside and
still alive
> when the shell is found.  So I wanted to ask, what
does everyone
> here think, from an ethical point of view, about
collectors taking
> live shells?
> >
> > 2.  I've noticed that everyone here uses the
Latin names for
> shells.  Can anyone reccomend a good internet
source to look up
> the Latin names and see pictures?  It's hard to
know what you are
> talking about or learn the names myself without
some sort of
> reference guide or index to look things up.  What
is everyone's
> favorite internet reference, preferably searchable?
> >
> > I'm hoping to learn a lot here about my
relatively new interest
> in shells.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Tink *~*~*
> >
>
> PLEASE NOTE: My new, long-term, and correct email
address is:
> [log in to unmask] Please update your records!
>