Having purchesed an "albino" Telescopium on an auction, I began to
worry about thermal doctoring. But when it arrived, and before
unpacking it,  I wondered... the dark coloration of normal
Telescopium will be due to melanins. These are extremely stable
pigments, the ones normally preserved in those fossils which retain
color patterns (OK, carotenoids can survive too... after cleaning off
the yellow varnish applied by someone nameless (say R. M. Carter) to
an Oligocene Perotrochus, I found the upper spire to retain the
characteristic collabral flames).Are melanins susceptible to
heat-treatment? i thought not.

Anyway, after unpacking I was relieved... the specimen is genuine.
Pure white, bodywhorl wall thin enough to read through if you lay the
lip on a piece of text. It retains (unburned!) bits of the animal as
well as hints of periostracum. The data however is doubtful...
collected at 6 meters? These beasts are, as far as I know, intertidal
only.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
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I want your sinistral gastropods!
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Opinions in this e-mail are my own, not those of my institution
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A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
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