Patti Z. Lounsbury wrote:
 
> >> Hello!
> >>
> >> Hi Cheshire,
> >>
> >> Yes here is a reponse to your plea! Look very closely at the
> protoconch or
> >> apex, prefereably with a lupe (magnifying glass).
> >>
> >> --
>  Okay, Emilio...look at the protoconch..and then what? What is the
> difference?
>
> Patti
 
Hello!
 
Hi to all,
 
Very sorry the computer must have been affected by "The Revenge of the
Nerds" syndrome.
 
For the Pleuro freaks here is what the teleoconch does as an aid in
conchological
differentiation of tangaroana vs. westralis (remember when in doubt,
with many shells, the teleoconch
will tell a lot).
 
The missing message as follows;
 
The Perotrochus tangaroana Bouchet & Metivier, 1982 is very close in
conchological (physical)
characteristics to Perotrochus westralis (Whitehead, 1987). Despite the
close and apparent
similarities there are consistent physical differences. Foremost and
consistently different is the teleoconch.
In P. tangaroana the teleoconch is free of any flammulations and is
salmon red as in the very first smooth upper whorls of the apex (dont
need shells for comparison, a plus). If you just happen to have one
specimen of each you will find that in comparing them the P.tangaroana
apex is blunt as compared with P.westralis. So there!!! Many of the
other physical differences need specimens of each to compare which is a
situation beyond most collectors paygrades.  One other difference which
may be remembered and does not need a comparative analysis is the basal
area which is smooth in P. westralis and rigdged by spiral ribs in
P.tangaroana.
 
End of missing stuff.....
 
More on Pleuros and stuff growing on them. In World Shells, issue #3,
page 21 there is a photo of a live
M. hirasei encrusted with living barnacles. These shells are deep
dwellers but they still get all sorts of organisms as encrusting
passengers, many of the organisms screw up the quality of the shell
because of the drilling into the surface. So deep does not mean squeaky
clean shells.
 
Hope this stuff helps James and other information starved shellers.
 
Thank you for your kind attention,
--
Later,
 
Emilio Jorge Power
 
Please visit;
"The Liguus Home Page"
http://pw1.netcom.com/~ejpower/lighompage.html