In 1994 I spent two weeks on Mili Atoll, Marshall Islands, as a guest of Joan Rutherford, in her "island". Some of you may have heard her presentation at the COA Convention in Tacoma, Washington. My experiences there were reported in American Conchologist 23(1L 23-25. Joan's "island" had several other islets near-by,and one could walk to anyone of them at low tide.

During one of my night outings I discovered that Ajelleran,the closest island to our habitation, had hundreds of hermit crabs running everywhere, and that they congregated where old coconuts had fallen and their husks were broken; sooo... I made a point of setting up open coconuts for them in the afternoon, and checking the husks later in the evening. In this manner I collected more than 30 species that I could not find by any other manner. Among the more interesting were Engina egregia (Reeve, 1844), Clypeomorus nympha Houbrick, 1985, Lienardia balteata (Pease, 1860), Thala secalina (Gould, 1860), Laemodonta monilifera (H & A. Adams, 1854), Cirsotrema cf varicosum (Lamarck, 1822), Liotina cf. loculosa (Gould, 1859), Favartia sykesi (Preston, 1904), Attiliosa caledonica Jousseaume, 1881, Phrygiomurex sculptilis (Reeve, 1844) and some still unidentified species.

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