Okay, you all did so well on the freshwater mussel question, here is
another.  Normally the questions I get are "How do I sell my mother's old
seashells?" or "How do I clean and polish the conch shell we found in the
Bahamas last month?"  But these last two were a bit tougher and deserve a
"list" answer.  Thanks,

Tom Eichhorst

Hello from Australia!

I am interested in finding out whether John Mawe's work (1821) is the
first work on shell collecting...Do you know of any others of the
period?  Also, any biographies of John Mawe? I would also like to
contact Peter Dance and would very much appreciate his email address...

Cheers and thanks,

Dr. Jeffrey D. Stilwell
School of Earth Sciences
James Cook University
Townsville Q 4811
Australia