Monika Forner schreef:
 
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> Monika
 
Dear Monika,
 
Now, finally I can take an hour to answer you properly and give my
remarks on my own sending. Summer holiday is here and the weather,
well..., is improving..We can only hope for the best, can't we ?
 
OK, the shells : you give some remarks on what you send. Well, about the
Buccinidae I am very aware of the rough life these guys usually have, so
I guess I can just receive what I'm asking for, isn't it. To give you an
example : another American lady I'm trading with asked me for some (very
common) Buccinum undatum. I even went up to the coast to buy some from a
fish stand and yet, even there I didn't manage to find very good
specimen. Anyway, the lady thanked me nevertheless for what she called :
"some nice crusty European bastards". Just to tell you I'm not expecting
some colourfull, shiny brilliant shells but honest whelks...
Regarding chipped Pecten and Chlamys : if the colour is fine I can live
with that. Moreover you will also receive some slightly chipped Chlamys
opercularis, but here I did the same as you : if the colour-set was
beautiful, I have left it in the lot.
Glued shells are not my first choice, but (don't laugh) even here I have
packed some glued ones for you which come from another collector. I
don't know what kind of glue he used either. Looks like we're in for a
mutual experiment here. Let me know your findings : if they're good
enough we can publish our results together in 'Science' next month...
;-)).
The choice you made instead of the Trachycardium egmontianum sounds very
fine, thanks a lot. Any bivalve I don't have is very welcome here.
About the Pholas : let me tell you a story. When I was in Brittany last
March, on the second day I waded through a muddy beach which submerges
only twice a year (it was the season of very strong tides). To my
surprise I found small groups of what appeared to be giant specimen (I
guess about 15 cm) of Pholas dactylus. Unfortunately they were dead but
still buried in the mud. I digged out some of them but no way to find
the small extra shell plates that go with the species. At that moment
this idiot did the most stupid thing of his shell-collectors life : I
just left the shells there, (thinking oh-well I'll take some of them on
my way back) and the result was no more shells of course when I returned
to the spot in the evening. The sea gives and the sea takes... (Message
of the story : even when you meet a dead Pholas, put it quickly in your
bag before it crawls away...)
 
...and before I shoot my own remarks : thanks a 1000 times for all the
extra effort putting this together. Highly appreciated !
 
 
And now : what can you expect to find in your parcel ? Well just about
everything you asked for I'm glad to say. As you know the one thing I
really couldn't supply anymore was the Pandora inaequivalensis. I don't
have anything to replace it with at an equal basis, so for that one you
have my word I'll send some the moment I have them again.
 
*Anomia ephippium : two small ones are in the box, one light orange,
another white one, hopefully it is satisfactory
*Gari fervensis : this is really a strange shell. I took it live on the
beach, prepared it myself and can't believe it has this fade colouring.
I have only one other specimen to compare with (one from my mothers
which is taken more than 30 years ago and still fresh colouring), I even
tried mineral oil on it (one side, you'll notice) but no significant
difference. Anyway, this is a very  small surplus to the lot.
*Lutraria lutraria : sorry but I damaged this one myself digging it out
; these animals are very quick and strong, they really surprised me. I
had the time to dig out 3 of them before the flood washed that part of
the beach again.
*Colus islandicus : as most Northern Buccinidae this shell is far from
perfect, so this one has a chipped lip. I left it as is, so you can
eventually repair it. It was the best choice out of 3 pieces (largest
one, only one w/o)
*You asked for some Patella vulgata : I didn't really focus on this
specimen on my last trip, so I send you the best and largest specimen I
collected but they are not as nice as the ones I sent you last year. If
you are still interested in GEM species of this, let me know, I'll
collect them next time, Brittany is full of them.
*Pecten maximus : this was a tough choice. I have about 100 maximus and
30 albino's left but each time one has to choose between quality and
size. The larger they become, the duller the colours and the more they
are chipped. Please let me know exactly what you think about the ones
you'll receive now. I hope I made the best choice. Otherwise, just send
them back with a note of what you prefer the most in this species.
*Chlamys opercularis : here I have the problem (as explained before) of
choosing between quality and colouring. I am more certain of my choice
here and I think you'll like what you get and you will start oiling them
as quick as you can :-)).
*The shell grit is just a sample of what can be found on the beaches of
Brittany. I have no knowledge whatsoever on microshells. If you can ID
what is in the bag, I'd appreciate if you would send me the names, OK ?
 
 
*Last note is quite important. I have an ID problem with several shells
that are in your box. Recently I purchased the two volumes on European
shells by Poppe. I already had the books by Fritz Nordsieck on European
seashells (published in the late '60ies, and '70ies) and although they
have only pencil drawings of shells, these prooved to be very usefull.
Now with these two references on my desk I have a problem. Many shells
seem to have changed name in the Poppe books. It concerns following
species (I use the names I think are the correct ones) :
 
Lunatia pulchella
Euspira catena
Cerastoderma edule belgicum
 
and the Venus-group :
 
Venerupis aurea
Venerupis pullastra
Venerupis rhomboides
 
I know you also have the Poppe books, so may I ask your opinion on this
matter ? If you don't have the Nordsieck references , I'd be glad to
send you photocopies of the descriptions and drawings of all these
species (it's in German but that will not be a problem for you, I
think).
Especially on the Veneridae I'm a bit puzzled and I would like to have
this problem resolved.
 
 
Well, alltogether I hope your parcel will please you as much as the
first one. It took some time to put all this together but the fun doing
it is rewarding and the waiting for a new parcel exciting. This package
will go 'normal mail' also due to the weight of it. Postal office tells
me that it will get to the States in a week or two.
 
I wish you and your family excellent holidays ; if you travel this
summer don't forget to take an extra shell for the Belgians here and
there ;-). We will do the same over here.
 
Take care, and let's hear from you soon,
 
 
Jan