Thank you Paul,

This is more of what I had in mind I was lacking to make a decision. I
printed the article for future use. Hope others did the same. Please keep up
the informative work.

Harry J Berryman
Xenophora Nut
321 MacClelland Avenue
Glassboro NJ 08028
856 881 7315
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----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Monfils <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2001 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: Small, Jr. or Dwarf


> Hi Lynn,
>
> I don't think the idea you described (a dwarf specimen having tighter
> whorls, but the same number of whorls as a normal specimen) is accurate.
>  A dwarf, to the best of my knowledge, does not have a different pattern
> of growth from a normal specimen.  Rather, it is a specimen in which
> maturity sets in too early, terminating an otherwise normal pattern of
> growth.  Therefore, a fully mature dwarf specimen should have the same
> number of whorls as a "normal", but immature specimen of the same size.
> In an effort to verify this, I measured nine fully mature specimens of
> Strombus canarium:  Three "dwarf" specimens, measuring 30-32 mm in
> length, each have 6 whorls; three average-size specimens, measuring 58
> to 60 mm, each have 7 whorls; and three "giant" specimens, measuring
> 89-94 mm, each have 8 whorls.  I'd be interested in hearing any other
> sets of measurements which either confirm or refute the results of this
> admittedly limited experiment.
>
> Regards,
> Paul M.
>