answer from Helmut Nisters, Innsbruck, Austria
 
Dear Linda,
 
Fam. Acavidae
Acavus haemastoma (Linnaeus, 1758)
from Sri Lanka
is a common land-shell on ground and in gardens.
You can find this species in
Compendium of Landshells by R. Tucker Abbott
1989
ISBN 0-915826-23-2
on page 91
 
Further I can tell you that I've found
Lataxiena fimbriata (Hinds, 1844) in the
Compendium of Seashells by R%. Tucker Abbott & S. Peter
Dance, 1983 (second printing) ISBN 0-91582617-8
indicated with N.W. Pacific and Japan as distribution on page 153. A shallow water species.
 
I hope you can have a look to these books and I will remain
with my best regards
 
yours Helmut
 
 
 
----------
> Hello fellow shell collectors,
> I have been reading and enjoying conch-l for a while now, so thought it was
> time I posted something.  I started collecting shells all of a sudden, in a
> kind of unusual way I guess.  Six years ago my husband agreed to clean out an
> attic for two elderly sisters, and they told him he could keep what he wanted
> and throw away the rest.  There were a few old trunks, and in one of them were
> a number of shells, almost three hundred, all wrapped in tissue paper and old
> newspaper.  Most of them had labels with them, telling the name (just the
> scientific name) and where they came from.  One of the ladies said they
> belonged to her mother, so I guess they are pretty old.  Anyway, I found them
> fascinating, and I got a wood cabinet and arranged them in it.  Later I buoght
> small cardboard jewelry boxes and arranged them in the drawers like
> saparators, with a shell and its label in each box.  Since then I have been
> gradually getting additional shells, and now have over five hundred.  There
> are several shells from the original collection that I have not been able to
> find in any books (I have bought several books on the subject) even though
> they have labels with them.  The names on the labels do not appear in any of
> my books.  So maybe I can get some help in finding out about them.  I guess
> that is an acceptable thing on conch-l, as I have noticed others asking for
> such help.  I have a number of shells I am unsure of, but for now I will
> mention just a couple.
> One is a shell 38 millimeters long, kind of rough textured, light brown with
> darker bands of brown.  It is labeled Latiaxis fimbriatus Hinds.  I have a few
> other Latiaxis shgells, and have found them all in books, but not this one.
> Does anyone know about this shell?  The label says it is from Formosa.
> Another one is a light weight brown and white banded shell with a bright red
> edge on the lip.  It resembles a moon snail, very smooth, but not as flat as a
> moon snail on top.  It is 55 millimeters in diameter.  The label reads Acavus
> hemastomus L. from Ceylon.  I have not been able to find any listing for
> Acavus in any book.  Any help would be appreciated.
> Sincerely,
> Linda Mason
>