Andrew,
 
At 01:04 PM 4/29/98 -0500, you wrote:
 
>
>Which brings me to a question about shell species. How many molluscan
>species can a person reliably recognize? Are there any
>conchologists/malacologists who are, or were, famous for their memory? And,
>on a more practical note, how is it done?
>
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>Geological Survey of Alabama
 
The late Bill Old of the American Museum of Natural History had an uncanny
ability to recognize, identify and rattle off a latin name for what seemed
like almost any marine molluscan species he came in contact with.  Probably
an exaggeration, but he is high on the list of conchologists/ malacologists
who could absorb a tremendous amount of visual and textual information and
recall it spontaneously.  Not only was he able to remember genera and
species names, but also the author and description date.  I don't ever
remember receiving an identification from him that did not include the
author and date.  He probably had an innate ability to remember facts about
many things other than shells, but I would think beyond a natural ability,
frequent and repeated exposure to shells and shell information is certainly
a factor in his memory retention.
 
For the rest of us who are less inclined to remember a slew of shell names,
we keep the shell books close at hand.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard L. Goldberg
Worldwide Specimen Shells
homepage:  http://www.erols.com/worldwide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The difference between a professional and amateur
photographer is that the amateur wants to show you
all of his pictures"            Anonymous