Ellen wrote:
>
>Would any of you seasoned Pacific collectors tell me what you use to grab,
>then contain, cones when you are out collecting? I've had folks tell me they
>just picked up geography cones with their bare hands, but I'm too chicken for
>that. Just don't simply tell me to leave them!


I've collected a lot of Striatus and Textile, and a few Geographus
cones, always picking them up with bare hands at the spire end.  As
others have said they generally retreat within their shells.  Every
one I ever collected did, with the exception of one Textile that
waved his proboscis around wildly but could not reach to the spire
end where I was holding him (maybe I was lucky).   Unless you collect
at night, when they may be on top of the sand, you will find the
above cones by turning over rubble and seeing them mostly buried in
the sand (or maybe completely buried and you have to fan the sand to
uncover them.)  You might try using something like a tongue depressor
to dislodge the cone from the sand and turn it over to expose the
aperture.  That should cause the animal to retreat into its shell and
you can gingerly pick it up and put it into whatever container you
decide on.



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Ed Foster
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