Dan (and other furious conch-l subscribers),
 
You do realize, don't you,  that Don Barclay not only didn't collect 1,000 Cypraea
leucodon, he didn't even collect ONE?  Also, the joke wasn't intended to be about
how many were collected, it was to poke gentle fun at one particular person on
Conch-L who may or may not have been gullible enought to fall for it.  No one
expected dozens of people to buy into it.  Read the last sentence of Don's posting,
it is the most important part of the letter.
 
Given this, what is the source of your "outrage"?
 
There is no condoning of collecting 1,000 specimens of anything here.  Just a poke
in the ribs that went so far over everyone's head, they didn't know what else to
think.
 
Let's forget it and move on to something we CAN comprehend.
 
Travis