Hi Paul M -

Thanks for the welcome!

> interesting find. In time you may discover that
some of the most
> interestingshells are not the most obvious ones
that you see as
> you walk along the
> beach, but the smaller ones that can be found in
the "beach drift"
> thataccumulates at the high tide line. This
material can be taken
> home, dried,
> and picked through at your leisure, and many tiny
treasures can be
> foundthis way.

I have indeed found many smaller treasures in this
manner, not on Long Island, but down in Sanibel.  It
started by accident.  At first glance, it looks like
just a pile of broken stuff in a lot of pretty
colors.  I sat down on the beach to look at the
pieces, and started finding small augers, drills,
even a few immature fighting conchs.  I've no
interest in real micros, but I like these teeny-tiny
things, and will fill up small bottles or jars with
them and give them to my nieces.

> As for the taking of live mollusks, I think that
taking a few
> because you
> want to preserve and admire their shells is at
least as ethical as
> takingthem by the ton because people want to eat
them and throw
> away their shells.

I agree with you here, and I've heard read about
places  where the best shelling is in the dumpsters
behind restaurants!

> As for the "ick factor", that's
> somethingyou have to put up with if you are going
to fish or hunt
> or collect live
> molluscs or have pets or take care of small
children. You just
> have to
> decide whether the rewards outweigh the ick. :-)

Hmmmm, yeah, well having neither pets nor children,
perhaps  I am simply unaccustomed to ick!  For me,
as an amateur/beginner, it just seems sensible at
this point to limit myself to those items where no
one is home.  I have, in the past, found live shells
that I wanted, but put them back exactly where I
found them.

Thanks for the links - I can see that I have a lot
of studying to do!

Tink *~*~*