Dear HollĄ;
Good to see one of the PrettĄ Shell People (not that i have anĄthing
against the Aesthetic Crowd, however!!!) come over to the other side
of the Conchological fence and begin to at least appreciate the
Scientific aspects of our passion. "Amateur" (those that do it just
because they want to, ie!) conchologists have always played a large
role in the malacological world, through fine collections, field work,
and independant or semi-independant scientific study.
From a collection-based viewpoint, there are a few keĄ things one
can do which will make their collection more valuable to researchers,
of any kind: 1) try to get the best data possible with your shells: a
common periwinkle with excellent data is worth more to a scientist
than a Cypraea barclayi Reeve with "deep water, South Africa" as its
only accompanying information. 2) whenever possible, don't just get
one or two specimens from any given lot (ie, a sample of a local
population of a given species) - get a set of them, so that the
variation within the population is represented. Ideally, from a
scientific viewpoint, this should be a randomly-selected assemblage,
and when you are collecting yourself this is possible, but when
purchasing, one has to settle for a set of often highly-selected
specimens, meant to not only illustrate the variability within the
population represented, but also to form an aesthecically-satisfying
group of variants - a good set is a genuine Work of Art (and believe
me, some of them take just about as long to put together as a
painting!!)., and 3) whenever possible get specimens or sets/lots of
any given species from a variety of localities, to illustrate
"infra-specific" vartiation between species, - many species range all
the way from the Westen Pacific to Eastern Africa (like Zanzibar), and
some such as Delectopecten vitreus Gmelin, are truly Cosmopolitan -
ie, they are found nearly everywhere!!
In any case, welcome to the list, and please do NOT hesitate to ask
questions, even ones which seem silly - these are often the most
interesting of all!!
Kind Regards,
Ross.
--
Ross Mayhew: Schooner Specimen Shells:
Http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com
"We Specialize in the Unusual"
Phone: (902) 876-2241; Fax: (603) 909-8552.
But try to find "something for Everyone"!!
Snail Mail: 349 Herring Cove Rd, P.O Box 20005, Halifax, N.S., Canada,
B3R 2K9.
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