Andrew Rindsberg suggested identifying the origin of specimens
based on their accompanying sediment.  Although I do not know of an actual
example for a molluscan specimen, I do know of both fictional and real
examples of tracking things down in this way.
        Dr. Thorndike, roughly contemporary with Sherlock Holmes, solved
some of his mysteries by identifying the foraminifera in samples from the
scene of the crime and determining where the sediment came from.
        Julia Gardner, who published many articles on the fossil mollusks
of the eastern U.S. and elsewhere, helped pin down from where Japan was
launching balloon-carried bombs towards the U.S. in World War II.  By
examining the ballast sand, she was able to identify enough of the bits of
coral, shell, and formas to tell that it was from Japan itself.
 
David Campbell
 
"Old Seashells"
 
Department of Geology
CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
USA
 
919-962-0685
FAX 919-966-4519
 
"He had discovered an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus"-E. A. Poe, The
Gold Bug