Oddly enough, the thought of post-storm beach combing never crossed my
mind!  There simply aren't many things besides zillions of Gemma gemma,
Spissula species in places, and other equally unexiting offerings that
wash up on the shores around here no matter how high the waves - the
Eptitoniidae, deep-water Buccinidae and even the Turridae seem to stay
where they are, below the tide lines.  Although there are in fact some
good intertidal collecting localities (at least for a few hours every
couple of months.....) in the Faire and Pleasante land of New Scotland,
the beach offerings are not signifcantly enriched by storms of any size
- unless one is seeking forams, in which case there can in fact be some
delightful surprises in the weeks after a good "blow" as they say in
these parts.  (and i am constantly surprised at how few people collect
foraminifera and diatoms - there are many thousands of incredibly
intricate, sometimes amazingly variable and certainly extremely
beautiful species which can be fairly easily collected - all one needs
is a good 20 to 30 power stereo microscope and a keen appreciation of
the beauty of form and sculpture: both of which are not uncommon!!
There is even a splendid book covering many forams around the world,
splendidly drawn by an artist studying material from the famous
Challenger voyage in the late 19th century )

From the still great but again quite wet North,
ross m.

Peter Egerton wrote:

Ross,

Nice to see you're in one piece. Did you do any post-hurricane beach combing?

Peter