Hello Erin , I recognise a lot in your introduction , I live in The
Netherlands where the beaches are sometimes loaded with shells, but only
half bivalves, or shells, like Cardium edule, the cockle , that are in my
opinion not so interesting to collect .

But sometimes we can find some small treasures over here , and a lot of
people likes to beachcomb over here .

I prefer collecting by snorkling , and over here that is not quite possible,
because the water is always muddy grey , and  just a couple of months the
right temperature to swim .

well , you mention the "killing" of shells for your collection , I know a
lot of other people , who dislike this too  , but if I find a really good
shell , I toss and turn the shell over and over again to consider if I
really need this one in my collection , I actually  will do this, I'm sorry
, but I feel if this shell lives for a few years more and it will die and so
become a very worn out beached shell , nobody will ever know what a beauty
it was when it was alive . And now when it is "killed " , labelled , and in
a box in my collection , I will never forget it's living beauty .

Maybe that is a simple way of " forgetting " I killed an animal  for my own
pleasure, but I don't feel a sadistic kind of hunger to do this . It is pure
for study of these shells I collect those .
I've noticed some things about shells, when I cleaned them , and so learn
more about them , and even more if I collected them dead .

If the shells were crabbed, but still shiny , and in a fair condition I take
them home too , so I hope you understand how I feel about collecting, and I
hope you will learn more and more about shells , and their collectors too of
course .

Kind regards, Jan Neefs
The Netherlands
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erin White" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 2:59 AM
Subject: Introduction and Greetings from Long Island, NY


> Hello to all at CONCH-L!  I'm very glad to have found this list.
>
> My name is Erin, but my friends call me Tink.  I am a fairly newbie shell
collector who hails from Long Island, New York.  I enjoy the act of shelling
because I find it soothing and relaxing, and because there is some beautiful
stuff to be found.  The joy of the hunt can be exhilirating.
>
> You'd think coming from an Island, I'd have found lots of shells here at
home, but that is not the case.  The bay beaches can yield some snails
around the jetties or maybe some clam halves, but that's about it here.
I've been going to Sanibel the past three summers, and even though it is
"off season" for shells in the summer, I still find some treasures.
>
> I'm going to poke in the archives here for a while to see what I can
learn, but I've got two questions right off the bat:
>
> 1.  I've only ever taken empty shells found on the beach, on sand bars, or
in the shallows.  I understand from reading on the internet that some people
will take a live shell.  I'm not sure what I think of this.  First, there is
the "ick" factor of having to pull the animal out of the shell.  Second, I'm
not sure if it quite sits right with me to kill something just because you
want it's shell.  Somehow, it just doesn't seem fair.  I've even seen
comments around the internet that would indicate to me that it is more of a
"find" if the animal is still inside and still alive when the shell is
found.  So I wanted to ask, what does everyone here think, from an ethical
point of view, about collectors taking live shells?
>
> 2.  I've noticed that everyone here uses the Latin names for shells.  Can
anyone reccomend a good internet source to look up the Latin names and see
pictures?  It's hard to know what you are talking about or learn the names
myself without some sort of reference guide or index to look things up.
What is everyone's favorite internet reference, preferably searchable?
>
> I'm hoping to learn a lot here about my relatively new interest in shells.
>
> Regards,
> Tink *~*~*
>