The Treatise, even in its incomplete form, is a lot easier to use than the
other fossil mollusc references that ordinary people have access to. There
were some very good but very rare compendia published in Germany just
before WW II. Even if you can find a copy in a library they are very hard
to use even if you read German. The French have done fairly well but again
the references are hard to get and require you to read French which is not
all bad. When one considers the amount of work involved in constructing the
Treatise It is very understandable why it is taking so long to get the
gastropods covered. I know that Alison Kay has been working on the
Cypraeidae section for over 5 years now but the end is in sight for that
section at least.
 
At 05:46 PM 3/7/1999 , Paul Callomon wrote in flowing prose:
>> There is a prodigious work entitled "Treatise on invertebrate paleontology,"
>> which has dealt with numerous phyla.  Among the mollusca, only the
>> cephalopods and bivalves have been treated intensively, and, although this
>> was considered a work-in-progress, I sense that the cast of contributors and
>> editor haven't maintained the enterprise, which you can see was desultory at
>> its best.
>Harsh words - another part was released last year, and work is in progress
>on several others to the best of my knowledge. The problem, as with all
>these collective efforts, is getting people to get on with it. The
>Gastropoda up to the Rissooidea are very well covered in volume 1.
 
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