Dear Paul,

By now you've received several timely and accurate responses to your report
of the cockamamie strategy put forth by the Rumina huckster.  I am
reasonably certain that Dr. David Robinson, who is the official mollusk
gatekeeper for the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture will bristle (if he hasn't
done so already) at this advertisement.  I shall Cc him this message.

Harry


At 10:29 AM 4/26/00 -0400, you wrote:
>During lunch yesterday I picked up a gardening magazine belonging to one of
>my colleagues, and as I flipped through it I came upon a large full color
>picture of a snail.  I figured the attached article was about controlling
>snails that feed on garden plants.  And so it was - only it wasn't exactly
>an article, it was an advertisement - and the pictured snail was not one of
>the species that need to be controlled.  Rather, it was a carnivorous snail
>that was being offered for sale as a means of controlling Helix and other
>molluscan garden pests.  I visited their web site (www.biopest.com).  The
>snail they are selling is Rumina decollata, which they list as "decollate
>predatory snail".  Is this a reasonable approach to controlling snails in
>your garden?  Or could the importation of such a species result in mass
>destruction of the local molluscan fauna?
>Paul M.

Harry G. Lee
Suite 500
1801 Barrs St.
Jacksonville, FL 32204
USA   904-384-6419
<[log in to unmask]>
Visit the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~wfrank/jacksonv.htm

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