David,
  You wrote
"Nevertheless, the book is well worth the price and fills a huge hole in
the
general shell books available for the Indo-Pacific region. Up to now,
there's been no comprehensive book to cover any area between the Arabian
Gulf and the Philippines or Australia (that I know of)"

Have you seen the following volumes
Abbott. 1991. Seashells of Southeast Asia
Dharma. 1988. Indonesian Shells; Volume 1
Dharma. 1992. Indonesian Shells; Volume 2
Kirtisinghe. 1978. Sea Shells of Sri Lanka.

Though none of these works are "ideal", they do provide some coverage for
the region between Saudi Arabia and the eastern range of the
"Indo-Pacific" Region.


Regards,
Charlie
******************************************************************************
Charlie Sturm, Jr
Research Associate - Section of Invertebrate Zoology
                     Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA
Assistant Professor - Family Medicine

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