Hello,
We are having difficulty identifying the following shells, found in the
Archerd Collection at WSU-Tricities. The shells are shown on the
following page of our website
<http://nighthawk.tricity.wsu.edu/museum/Questionable%20IDs.html>.
Gladys Archerd, who created the collection, was generally accurate in
her identifications, but the following seem to be misclassifications:

1) The opalescent turban shell, below, was identified by G.Archerd as
"_Tudicula arraigera_ A. Adams," an identification that almost certainly
seems to be in error. It was found in Sri Lanka, in 1960 and seems to be
an Australian shell. It is 5 inches.

In the Collection, we also have an identically shaped shell of same size
that is brown & green and non-opalescent, with a band of brown & buff
tiger stripes spiralling along the edge of the suture line. It is
unidentified.

2) The chank-like shell, shown below, was identified by Archerd as
"_Xancus pyrum_ Lam.," which may be a formerly used species name.  It
might be a mature shell of "_Turbinella pyrum_ form,  _napus_," but a
troubling feature is that columellar folds are not noticeable in our
specimen. I do note Abbott & Dance, who state that older forms of this
species become smoother and swollen.

I recently joined COA and CONCH-L, and I have been following with great
interest the various discussions. For people like me, living in
Washington's eastern steppes, three or four hundred miles away from the
sea coast & Seattle, COA is wonderful resource. In the meantime, I hope
you enjoy our web site. Let me  also thank Paul Monfils for providing
clarifications and correction for two shells already exhibited on our
website.

-Burt Vaughan