Hi Ron,

         Probably some people, ever since the inception of shell collecting
as a popular pursuit, asked these same questions and obsessed and meditated.
Perhaps it is good to have some people ask questions.  Maybe it offers some
balance....a kind of Yin/Yang thing.  Anyway, this group of people on the
CONCH-L forum are mostly thoughtful people and curious and these are exactly
the folks who love to ponder every question relating to shell-collecting that
comes to mind.  I guess it was inevitable that someone would ask the question
that makes us think about Mollusks as living animals rather than merely their
skeletons.  Keep in mind, almost everyone in this forum also collects and
will keep on collecting shells.