Thank-you, Ms Marshalldg!  However, i do not think encouraging more
people to appreciate beautiful, colorful pectens more  is nessessarily a
bad idea, since then more divers would seek them out, instead of going
straight to those pesky "whorly things" the shell world is currently so
enchanted with!!  However, there are other bivalve families which are
also well worth the effort of pursuing, in the slim "bivalve ghettos" of
dealers' lists as well as the worldwide ocean:  Cardiidae and Carditidae
come to mind:  Wonderful shapes, sculptures, colors and variability
there also.  I guess i'm just trying to say to younger and beginning
collectors (as well as more experienced ones who are looking for
something *"new and different"*!): don't always follow the crowd, or
surf the same waves that the majority place their boards on:  There are
hundreds of families of shell-bearing molluscs, perhaps 25,000 species
and absolutely uncountable patterns, colors, sculptures, shapes, etc. to
be had by the determined collector and/or amateur naturalist:  The
"world of shells" is FAR larger than most of us realize, and well worth
exploring more fully!!
 
        Charlie, do not worry about "rambling on"- your post was full of the
wisdom to be expected from a pecten collector!  I expecially appreciated
that although you *referred* to other people's arcticles, you refrained
from atomatically *quoting* them!!  In a discussion, one does not 
usually repeat verbatum the arguments one is responding to, but trusts
the listeners  to retain at least something from them, while refreshing
their memory on important and relevant points, as deemed nessessary or
usefull.  On any given day, a third to a half of the total # of lines
posted to this list are repeats- a bit like watching summertime
television, except that ine seldom sees the same former program more
than once on any given day (without changing channels, ie!), and most
certainly not 4 or 5 times!!  The repeat setting on browsers is easily
repealed, suspended, or used very selectively, and the quoted text can
be edited.  Enough said- i will not  repeat this observation again, lest
i be accused of ignoring my own advice.
 
                                                                                                        Bright Regards,
                                                                                                        Ross M.