I've only had the opportunity to collect live shells once, and they were on the
small side, but what I did was put them in a tupperware-type container with rubbing
alcohol until I got home a week later.  Then I boiled them.  It turned out all
right.
For people collecting large quantities, so much rubbing alcohol would probably be
expensive, but I am wondering whether a strong bleach solution would work as well.
Of course if you need to preserve opercula or periostracum then this wouldn't work
very well.
Another idea that I had, but never tried would be to take a camping stove with you,
even a one burner backpack type, collect the shells in a metal pot and then boil
them up right on the beach (or at your campsite/picnic site if you are at one) and
pick the animals out.  There are probably places that you could not do this, but if
you could it would sure draw some conversation!
Travelling by air with a backpack stove might seem to be  a problem but people
doing backpack trips to far off places do it, so it can be done.

Nora Bryan
Calgary, Alberta
(where it is way too warm for Christmas, no snow boo-hoo!)


sophiev wrote:

> I was very interested in all you responses to Ashish question but I
> am not so sure it's easy to find cat litter in a Malaysian island !
>
> Sophie
>
> >Ashish
> >    I'm with KAY, if you can get cat litter it is very good on
> >keeping the odor
> >down.I like large and small plastic buckets with leds.Then tape the
> >led down good
> >Two years ago while collecting in a shell dump in Coco Fl. I went to the store
> >to buy cat litter. A little old lady ask me if I had a lot of cats
> >for I had six bags.Had to tell what I was doing with it.
>                                              wolfman
>
> Sophie Valtat
> 16, rue des Ecoles
> 75005 Paris
> France