Hi all
 
     I have been lurking on this list for a couple of months, but I am just
     now getting around in sending an introduction.  My name is Michael
     Reagin and I live in Cleveland Heights, OH.  My main intrest is fossil
     shells.  I originally lived in Atlanta (28 years) then six in
     Pensacola, FL.  Living in the south afforded me ample opportunity to
     collect Tertiary deposits from both the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal
     Plains and this list has warmed my heart by discussions of some of the
     classic locations that I had visited (i.e. Little Stave Creek, Coon
     Creek).  Much of my collection is from the Eocene of Alabama, the
     Chipola and Shoal River Formations of the Florida Panhandle, and the
     Pliocene shell beds of South Florida.  After a job related move to
     Ohio, I was worried about my access to Tertiary and Pleistocene
     localities, but after joining a local fossil club I have made several
     club trips to North Carolina and Maryland to collect local shell beds.
     Besides, now that I collect Paleozoic invertebrates, I find that many
     collectors are willing to trade younger fossils for the older
     material.
 
     I have also recently developed an interest in land shells.  What else
     could I do being so far away from the ocean?  It seems snails love
     limestone and I always finding land shells when I go fossil
     collecting.  Plus correspondence with several fossil collectors who
     also collect land snails (Leland Miyano and Phil Liff-Grief) has
     intensified that interest.  In fact, on a recent trip to San Diego, I
     had just as much fun collecting land snails with Phil as I had
     collecting fossils in the same area.
 
     Anyway, I have rambled long enough.  I am happy to be aboard and look
     forward to contributing in the future.
 
     Mike