Ardeth,

Wow! What a great contribution to Conch-L this morning!  That is all
fascinating!  Gosh! If it is going to be as light as you say, one could
go night shelling without lights! Some of you who live where this is
possible please let us know what your shelling experiences are. I wish I
could be somewhere to collect...like on exposed reef! That has been my
lifelong dream!  Instead of shelling I'll probably be tossing and
turning a few nights away, more than usually unable to sleep at full
moon, just at holiday time when I need my rest.

Does anyone else have this sleepless response to full moon? It isn't the
light, because we keep our bedroom very dark, and yet Richard and I both
"count sheep" at least one of the three fullest nights of the cycle. It
makes me wonder if this isn't part of the reason for the high incidence
of looney behavior at full moon...the poor people can't sleep. Or maybe
it just means Richard and I are looney. Which word I believe comes from
the Latin word for moon, "luna";  "lunatic" has the same ancestor.

So do lots of shell names: In Kay Cunningham Vaught's "A Classification
of the Living Mollusca," I notice the genera Lunaia, Lunarca, Lunaria,
Lunatia, Lunatica, Lunella, Lunularca, and Lunulicardia for a start. I
can't even begin to guess how many species names are moon-related.
Sometimes the word refers to the round, shining quality of the full
moon, but I believe most of these names refer to the crescent phase of
the moon and describe something arc-shaped (arcuate).

Seriously, while the meteorological/astronomical/geological/hydrological
effects of this combination could have seismic consequences, the
solstice combined with the full moon combined with media-fueled
Millennium Fever and the Christmas holiday effects of anxiety and
depression combined with alcohol could really stir up some even more
devastating human reactions! Let's all go shelling!

Lynn Scheu
About to Be Sleepless in Louisville KY
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