At 08:24 PM 1/21/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Paul and other Olividae specialists:
>
>There is a also a 38 year old mimeographed publication entitled "Catalogue
>of Recent and Fossil Olives" by John Q. and Rose L. Burch (Minutes of the
>Conchological Club of Southern California, #196, February 1960, pp. 46)
>which is an alphabetical species list of Olividae which includes original
>literature citations, designation of genera and synonyms.  It is an
>immensely useful publication for the Olive specialist (though there are no
>illustrations).  I wonder if any of our Conch-L members in southern
>California know if copies ever circulate?
>
>Rich Goldberg
>
Rich:
 
Wow! You have really caught me in a memory lapse this time, Rich.  A
xeroxed copy of it sits on my desk which I use all the time.  My xerox copy
came from an original in the W. H. Dall Library in the Smithsonian many
years ago.  I managed to eventually but an original from Dick Petit about 3
years ago, so some copies must have circulated.  Even though is was
published in only 1960, the copy is so yellowed (actually brown) and frail
that I can hardly handle it.  The paper that was used in those days for the
Minutes of the Conchological Club of Southern California was certainly NOT
acid-free.  The catalog is 45 pages of single-space bibliography of
Olividae species, with original citations and designation of genera and
synonyms as you indicated.  It covers the entire Olividae family, which
means it covers Ancillas (and allied genera), Olivellas and Agaronias.
Besides recent species, John and Rose Burch have many of the fossil species
included.
 
In fact, I have tried to scan it into my computer, but the old
typewriter/mimeograph (with overstrikes to correct letters) style is just
too hard for my scanner and OCR programs.  I have recently started entering
the data into Access to form the basis for an internal Olividae catalog to
help me with my work on the Olividae.
 
One of the additional advantages of the "Catalog" by the Burch's is that
for many of the species they refer back to discussions in previous issues
of the Minutes of the Conchological Club of Southern California.  Issues #
181 (Sept/Oct 1958) to # 194 (Dec 1959) were almost totally devoted to
discussions of many of the recent species of Olividae, often quoting
original descriptions, providing opinions on the status of different
species, and observations of specimen lots that they had examined in
different museums and private collections.  It is a real "treasure chest"
of information on the Olividae and often the starting point of my research
of a species that I am unfamiliar with myself.  Particularly for the recent
Olividae, they barely missed anything!  Very comprehensive, up to the late
1950's.
 
Paul Drez