I guess I started all this by stating my collecting goals.  Talk about strange,
though - even though I know that there are huge numbers of families that aren't
seashells and many that don't even have shalls, I was thinking of seashells, and I
was using that same Eisenberg book that Tom started with to figure out which
families I need to collect.  Is that a coincidence or wha?!  Speaking of that
Eisenberg book, I have never seen it as a recommended book, and I don't know if it
can even be purchased anymore.  I guess if you've been shelling awhile and have many
other books then this book might not have appeal.  I literally got started in the
hobby by being given a large box of stuff amongst which were about a hundred or so
shells, all unlabelled and no idea of their provenance.  Our library had only one
book that would give me even a shot at guessing what these shells were, and where
they were from and that was the Eisenberg book.  I keep signing it out of the
library.
Does anyone know if this book can still be purchased and what it might cost?
The only other books I have are a 1955 copy of Abbott's American Seashells which I
am slowly marking up to update some of the taxonomy, and the Audubon North American
Seashells.  I suppose the Abbott Compendium is the obvious next choice on my list.
Any other recommendations?
 
Tom Eichhorst wrote:
 
> Paul,
>
> Okay, how about some families.  Actually when I started to even think this way I
> was just going for the families listed in Eisenberg's book.  Later I added
> Abbott and Dance's compendium.  So although I have some land and some
> freshwater, I was only going for the better known seashell families.  So you are
> soooo right, I have no where near 650 families.  In fact, I just went and
> counted them.  I have Gastropoda-82, Bivalvia-36, Scaphapoda-1,
> Polyplacophora-4, Cephalopoda-4, Landshells (counted separate from
> Gastropoda)-21, Freshwater-a couple only.  So I barely missed 650, I'll catch up
> next week.
>
> Tom Eichhorst in New Mexico, USA  (650?!!!)
>
> Paul R. Monfils wrote:
>
> > Tom,
> > You sure you have a representative of most families?  Kay Vaught lists about
> > 650 families in A Classification of the Living Mollusca :-)  Of course, that
> > includes all classes of mollusks, marine, fresh water, and terrestrial.
> > Paul M.