Dear Ferreter (or is it ferreter?),
 
I agree that these natural history objects are highly desirable and of
multifarious value.  A caveat for your well-intentioned campaign (vide
infra): our Fish and Wildlife Service (and other agencies, I guess) is
charged with enforcement of the Endangered Species Act.  Many of your (mine,
too) desiderata are also on its "checklist."  Perhaps Tom Watters or one of
his colleagues can post a list of Unionidae of which the U.S.F.W.S. would
not like to hear as changing hands.  The difference, for instance, between
"extinct" and "endangered" is, to slightly extend Kurt Auffenberg's posting
of last week, just one living specimen.
 
Harry
 
 
At 04:00 PM 1/26/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dr. Harry Lee, I wish I had the others, recently became interested in the
>uniondae as fresh water mussels are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. I
>am  mainly intrested in aquiring a collection of these before they're gone.
>I plan to use the talents I've learned in trading to amass a big enough
>collection so as to be able to present the whole to a museum where they can
>be studied long after the wild species have died out. I mainly collect
>conus and wil give up rare cones to aquire these extinct uniondae. Unlike
>marine mollusca the fresh water bivalves have their beauty hidden
>inside....Any suggestions even how abscure would be helpful. I plan to
>obtain some ohio species very soon and if I get doubles I would certainly
>forward extras to you if you are interested. Mark Bethke
 
>>>Epioblasma flexuosa (Rafinesque, 1820) - Leafshell
>>>
>>>Epioblasma personata (Say, 1829) - Combshell
>>>
>>>Epioblasma phillipsii (Conrad, 1835) - Conrad's Riffleshell
>>>
>>>Epioblasma propinqua (Lea 1857) - Tennessee Riffleshell
>>>
>>>Epioblasma sampsonii (Lea, 1861) - Wabash Riffleshell
Harry G. Lee
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Suite 500, 1801 Barrs Street
Jacksonville, FL  32204
U. S. A.    904-384-6419
 
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