Paul,
 
At 10:58 PM 1/21/98 -0700, you replied to:
 
>>Paul and other Olividae specialists:
>>
>>There is a also a 38 year old mimeographed publication entitled "Catalogue
>>of Recent and Fossil Olives" by John Q. and Rose L. Burch (Minutes of the
>>Conchological Club of Southern California, #196, February 1960, pp. 46)
>>which is an alphabetical species list of Olividae which includes original
>>literature citations, designation of genera and synonyms.  It is an
>>immensely useful publication for the Olive specialist (though there are no
>>illustrations).  I wonder if any of our Conch-L members in southern
>>California know if copies ever circulate?
>>
>>Rich Goldberg
>>
 
and you wrote:
 
>Rich:
>
>Wow! You have really caught me in a memory lapse this time, Rich.  A
>xeroxed copy of it sits on my desk which I use all the time.  My xerox copy
>came from an original in the W. H. Dall Library in the Smithsonian many
>years ago.  I managed to eventually but an original from Dick Petit about 3
>years ago, so some copies must have circulated.  Even though is was
>published in only 1960, the copy is so yellowed (actually brown) and frail
>that I can hardly handle it.  The paper that was used in those days for the
>Minutes of the Conchological Club of Southern California was certainly NOT
>acid-free.  The catalog is 45 pages of single-space bibliography of
>Olividae species, with original citations and designation of genera and
>synonyms as you indicated.  It covers the entire Olividae family, which
>means it covers Ancillas (and allied genera), Olivellas and Agaronias.
>Besides recent species, John and Rose Burch have many of the fossil species
>included.
>
>In fact, I have tried to scan it into my computer, but the old
>typewriter/mimeograph (with overstrikes to correct letters) style is just
>too hard for my scanner and OCR programs.  I have recently started entering
>the data into Access to form the basis for an internal Olividae catalog to
>help me with my work on the Olividae.
>
>One of the additional advantages of the "Catalog" by the Burch's is that
>for many of the species they refer back to discussions in previous issues
>of the Minutes of the Conchological Club of Southern California.  Issues #
>181 (Sept/Oct 1958) to # 194 (Dec 1959) were almost totally devoted to
>discussions of many of the recent species of Olividae, often quoting
>original descriptions, providing opinions on the status of different
>species, and observations of specimen lots that they had examined in
>different museums and private collections.  It is a real "treasure chest"
>of information on the Olividae and often the starting point of my research
>of a species that I am unfamiliar with myself.  Particularly for the recent
>Olividae, they barely missed anything!  Very comprehensive, up to the late
>1950's.
>
>Paul Drez
>
 
Yes, my original also disintegrated soon after photocopying it.   I have
only the photocopy in my library.   It would be extremely useful to have an
illustrated checklist of the Burch Living Olividae Catalog.   It would be a
worthy publication.  Have you ever considered embarking on such a project
associated with your database project?  Your knowledge about the Olividae
would lend itself to such a project.
 
One other catalog-type publication dealing with Olividae that I forgot to
mention is:
 
"La Classification Des Olividae" par Ralph Duchamps;
Informations De La Soc. Belge De Malac. Ser. 9, No 4, Sept 1981
pp. 34, mimeographed, outlined by genus with a list of species, and in many
cases, illustrating a representative species of the genus with a line
drawing.  This is also an interesting publication worth tracking down.
 
Are you familiar with it?
 
Have you noticed that the photographs pasted into your copy of "Beitrage
zur Kenntnis der Olividae" have shifted in color?  It seems that the dyes
in the photographs have faded to a reddish cast.  I do not remember them
ever looking that way.  But it has been at least a year since I've
referenced the volume.
 
Rich
 
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