Jenny Scarboro writes,
 
"I would like to hear opinions on where conchology crosses over into the
realm of malacology.
 
"Isn't a malacologist someone who studies "mollusca"?  By that, I mean shell
and animal, together as the unit they are.
 
"I don't understand how one could be considered a malacologist, lettered or
not, if (s)he focused primarily on the shell and not the animal
characteristics."
 
A mollusk by any other name would smell as sweet. So would a malacologist.
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama