Worldwide wrote:
>
> Andrew,
>
> At 01:04 PM 4/29/98 -0500, you wrote:
>
> >
> >Which brings me to a question about shell species. How many molluscan
> >species can a person reliably recognize? Are there any
> >conchologists/malacologists who are, or were, famous for their memory? And,
> >on a more practical note, how is it done?
> >
> >Andrew K. Rindsberg
> >Geological Survey of Alabama
>
> The late Bill Old of the American Museum of Natural History had an uncanny
> ability to recognize, identify and rattle off a latin name for what seemed
> like almost any marine molluscan species he came in contact with.  Probably
> an exaggeration, but he is high on the list of conchologists/ malacologists
> who could absorb a tremendous amount of visual and textual information and
> recall it spontaneously.  Not only was he able to remember genera and
> species names, but also the author and description date.  I don't ever
> remember receiving an identification from him that did not include the
> author and date.  He probably had an innate ability to remember facts about
> many things other than shells, but I would think beyond a natural ability,
> frequent and repeated exposure to shells and shell information is certainly
> a factor in his memory retention.
>
> For the rest of us who are less inclined to remember a slew of shell names,
> we keep the shell books close at hand.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Richard L. Goldberg
> Worldwide Specimen Shells
> homepage:  http://www.erols.com/worldwide
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "The difference between a professional and amateur
> photographer is that the amateur wants to show you
> all of his pictures"            Anonymous
 
Amen to all!