"Snails" is interpreted by customs as "live land snails that will
devour whole farms if they get off the plane".  That's not far off the
mark for giant African snails, so there's some justification for their
concern.  Seashells from the beach is reasonably comprehensible as a
harmless souvenir.

One possible approach would be to start explaining in detail what each
specimen is.  This got my brother through security fairly quickly with
a backpack of fossils.

--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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