HI David
I have never been to the Vineyard, and finally only saw that book for
the first time about two years ago....it reminds me of the similarly
detailed book by Emerson and Jacobson, now titled "Shells From Cape
Cod to Cape May"...and we have also tried to refind shells they noted
in the same places, usually with less success but as you noted we also
can find lots of things that werent found or mentioned by them.
I have shelled enough in Mass. to note Tagelus divisus can be found
regularly on S Mass. in several locations, Mattapoisett and Hyannis
for example, but is local and uncommon north of Cape Hatteras. Rarely
found in NY (I think we are up to six now in 35 yrs) and I know of one
from North of Cape May. We have never encountered Anomia aculeata in
shallow water, it may be possible, but the best place to find it
would be on any lobster trap sitting around on the Vineyard anywhere,
if that "counts" for your kind of search- they are on lobster traps in
Gloucester, for example, by the 1000's.
Your hunt sounds grand!
Steve
On 6/14/10, David Kirsh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Forty years ago, Richards Heuer published his book Exploring for Sea Shells
> on Martha's Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts. It's a useful book and
> complete, in the sense that it includes micros while many shell books from
> that time didn't. Heuers provided information on where to find each species
> on the island. He admits the limitation that the book is geared for the
> summer collector and my sources tell me he was a summer collector.
>
> I had the chance to retrace some of the steps provided in the book during a
> five-day stay over Memorial Day weekend on the Vineyard. I encountered more
> Crepidula fornicata than I'd ever seen, although I have a vague memory from
> boyhood summers in eastern Long Island that they can be prolific. In some
> spots, they were the only mollusk species save a few valves of Anomia
> simplex. See http://www.jaxshells.org/crep1.htm
>
> Many of the places Heuer mentioned as good shelling spots were productive.
> There were some changes. For instance, a colony of Nucella lapillus can now
> be found at Menemsha as well as the places named in the book. And he wrote
> that Anachis avara "is considerably less common than" Anachis translirata. I
> found them in nearly equal numbers in drift lines among the seaweed.
>
> Frequency was the most obvious change to me in my brief stay on the
> Vineyard. Heuer wrote that Seila adamsi is "rare" and Mangelia
> (Pyrgocythara) plicosa is "Found very rarely south of the Chappaquiddick
> ferry landing or at the tip of the point in Eel Pond." I found more than a
> few of each near the Chappy ferry landing during an hour of search. Another
> species I found at that spot was an Epitonium rupicola in good
> condition...Heuer deemed it "very rare." There was also a paired Tagelus
> divisus..."very rare" according to the book. Either there has been a
> population growth of several species, I'm very lucky or Heuer was generous
> with his use of "rare" and "very rare".
>
> I know I'm not the only one to use Heuer's book for shelling on the island.
> I met a year-round resident, Louis Winkelman (!), who collects shells.
> Perhaps 30 years ago, he set about trying to collect all the shells in the
> Heuer book. My girlfriend's mother had been the proofreader/editor and she
> encouraged Louis to use his sailboat to find the elusive Anomia aculeata
> under a buoy. As he told it, her navigating skills weren't always the best
> and Louis still has the dent in his hull from running into the buoy but he
> didn't find Anomia that day.
>
> I had a few minutes to view Louis' framed display of a complete (or nearly
> complete) set of Vineyard shells to match the Heuer book. One anomaly I
> noticed was his Yoldia. It wasn't a Yoldia...it was Tellidora cristata. I'd
> like to find out where he got it--not likely from Martha's Vineyard, Abbott
> (1974) says the range is North Carolina to south Florida and Texas. (It's
> not anything common anywhere, is it?)
>
> Have others made use of the book and/or shelled on the Vineyard?
>
> David Kirsh
> Durham, NC
>
>
>
> "When you're chewing on life's gristle, DON'T grumble. Give a whistle!"
> --from Life of Brian
>
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