DOMINIC RAWLINGSON PLANT wrote:
>
> My name is Dominic RAWLINGSON-PLANT.I am 57 years old and live in England.
> I have been diver and shell collector for over 30 years having started when
> I was in the military in Singapore in the mid 1960's.Then I also dived
> around Malaysia and Borneo.I have also been fortunate to spend time in
> Cyprus, Belize and New Zealand having also dived around much of Europe.More
> recently I have had 8 months in the Seychelles (Indian Ocean) instructing
> diving. This is also an excellent area to find shells.
> My main collecting interests are Cones and Cowries and I currently have
> over 100 species of each but I also have Strombidae, Cassidae, Muricidae
> and Volutidae.
> I have only recently aquired a computer and would welcome any advice on how
> to get my collection,currently held on cards, onto a database.I also need
> an abreviated form to print off the basic information onto labels for the
> specimens I have boxed.
> Look forward to communicating with you in the future.
>
> Dominic
Dear Dominic:
 
Welcome aboard.  We are also SCUBA divers.  Jim is a Dive Master.  We
travel as often as possible.
We are cataloging our shells on a program called Access.  Once you get
all the data in you can pull it out in any manner you like...labels,
lists, etc.  It is working very well.
We have them cataloged according to Family, Genus, Species, Author &
Date, Where collected and when collected, collected by, data,
quality,size and estimated value.
We are doing each data base by family.  We just finished all our volutes
and are starting on our pectins.  It is very time consuming but will be
wonderful when it is completed.
And of course keeping it up as we had specimens and trade specimens will
be important.
--
Jim & Bobbi Cordy
Specializing in Self-Collected
Caribbean & Florida Shells