My most memorable self collected specimen was a chipped Busycon
canaliculatum with a hole in its back.  It was in a shallow, sheltered cove
on the south shore of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  I was wading on a muddy sand
bottom, not much more than ankle deep, amid thousands of live Nassarius
obsoletus, and scattered dead shells of moon snails, Busycon whelks, oysters
and other bivalves.  I had already picked up several large dead Polinices
and Busycon, checked inside them for smaller snails which might have taken
refuge there, then discarded them.  I had found a few Urosalpinx cinerea and
Eupleura caudata, plus some Crepidula plana and Crepidula convexa.   I had
also found a few live Polinices and Busycon.  After wading a half mile down
the beach, I turned and started back, wading a little farther from shore.  I
came upon another large Busycon shell, lying aperture side down.  I knew it
was dead because it had a half inch hole in its back.  I rolled it over with
my foot, to get a look inside.  Nothing was obvious, and I was in a bit of a
hurry to get going, so I continued on my way.  But something about that
shell just seemed odd.  So I went back and picked it up.  It did look kind
of strange, but the reason didn't hit me for a moment.  It was sinistral,
the only sinistral Busycon canaliculatum I had ever seen!
I friend of mine here in Rhode Island also has a self-collected sinistral B.
canaliculatum, only she collected hers indoors.  She was in a shopping mall,
where there was a boating display set up out in the corridor area.  The
display had a nautical-looking rail around it, made of rope and brass, and
beneath the rail, on the floor, was a line of Busycon shells, which
encircled the entire display.  She was standing at the rail, looking at the
boats, when she happened to glance down, and there at her feet was a
sinistral Busycon, which she subsequently acquired (whether through official
channels or not I am not certain).
Paul M.