A new book by the American Malacological Society was mentioned several
weeks ago, however, I thought that the following would interest some
folks. I came across this posting by Paul Monfils, dated 10 September
1998, and would like to reply to the questions that he posed. Paul wrote-

“Hi Conch-L,
Someone e-mailed me and asked about the article I had mentioned on baiting
fresh water snails. Miraculously, I was able to locate it. It was in a
booklet published in 1974 by the American Malacological Union, called How
To Study & Collect Shells (Fourth Edition). As I looked through this old
booklet of 100+ pages, I started to recollect what a wealth of information
it contained - including articles on several topics we have discussed on
Conch-L. The publication is a collection of short articles by such authors
such as Burch, Schwengel, Burgess, Berry, Clarke, Turner, Porter, Baker,
Allison, Clench, Abbott, Wagner and others. Topics include: shore
collecting; cleaning techniques; dredging (3 articles); collecting from
commercial fishing gear; collecting from fish stomachs; preparation of
chitons; collecting from navigation buoys; collecting from sea-stars;
fresh
water snails; trapping snails; fresh water mussels; collecting land
snails; collecting mollusks in desert regions; preservation of slugs;
mechanics of a shell club; arrangement of a collection; and several
others.”

Paul went on to pose these questions:
“A few questions come to mind:  Did the AMU produce any comparable
publications more recently than 1974?”

At that time, no. As of 2006, yes. The Mollusks: A Guide to Their Study,
Collection, and Preservation was published in July. Whereas its
predecessor was 107 pages, the new volume is 445 pages and it now has 101
illustrations instead of only 2.

“If so, is it possible to obtain copies?”
More info on the book can be obtained at the American Malacological
Society website:
http://www.malacological.org/publications/molluskguide.html

“If not, would the AMU consider making this booklet available again?”
We heard you Paul. We started working on the revision in August, 1999.

“Some of the information contained in it, especially species names, is a
bit outdated; but much of the information is timeless, and priceless.
Paul M.”
I agree. While the book has been totally rewritten, authors have drawn on
what has been in past editions. In addition we have added chapters on
topics such as digital imaging, film photography, archival techniques,
databases, cladistics and molecular techniques. Also, there are chapters
covering all extant classes of mollusks; one each for the Aplacophora,
Monoplacophora, Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda, and Cephalopoda, three for the
Bivalvia, and four for the Gastropoda. There is also a chapter on fossil
mollusks. After checking the website above you can go to the publishers
website (click on Universal Publishers at the AMS website) and read the
first chapter of the book. It provides an overview of the remaining 30
chapters. After this, if you have any questions let me know.

Regards,
Charlie
.................................................
Research Associate - Section of Mollusks
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Assistant Professor - Family Medicine

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