Hi Ashish,

Here is a quote from one of Eduardo Moreira's e-mails from a
couple of years ago.  I'm sure he will be glad to know that he
is contributing to Conch-L while he is in Africa dodging bullets
or whatever:

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Here come my two cents. May be the most experienced don't agree with them
but at least for me they work very well for most shells.

During my vacations I store the shells in Tupperware/Rubbermaid boxes
filled with 1/3 alcohol + 2/3 water, one box for each station. Don't use
100% alcohol sollution since the soft parts will look like rubber and will
become VERY difficult to be cleaned. Box size varies depending on the
number/size of shells collected. Very tiny shells can be stored in
Kodak/Fuji film plastic boxes. Use a non-washable pen to write station data
on each box. I use to bring some empty boxes and two bottles of alcohol, to
do not bother on buying them in the very first days.

I don't usually clean shells during my vacations since I really think that
you can find much more interesting things to do like to date your wife like
the good ol'times (last week me and my wife were in Porto Seguro, Bahia in
our 15th honeymoon in almost 10 years of marriage).

I try to clean as much as possible the bigger shells and fill them with
some toilet paper immersed in alcohol. Roll up these shells in some paper
towel and put them in ziplock bags.

On the way back home, substitute the water/alcohol sollution by some toilet
paper immersed in alcohol. Carry the boxes in your hand baggage. You are
the best one to know how to protect your babies.

With this method, at least up to now all shells came home not damaged and
with no bad smelling (at least for my big Arab size nose).
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Cheers,



Don

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From: Ashish Gupta <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Packing Shells after Beach/Reef Collecting
Date: Wednesday, December 22, 1999 9:54 PM

I will be travelling to Malaysia to collect some shells. It is likely that in addition to
beached/dead shells, I will also pick up one or two live specimens.
Normally, if it were a long trip, I would clean out the dead animal tissue, and carry the
cleaned shells back with me. Since this is a short trip, I may not find the time to clean
the shells out.

Could someone give me some advice on how I could pack and carry (by airplane) uncleaned
shells without creating a huge stink?

Thanks & regds,
Ashish