Several questions on conch-l, some partial answers:

Nora Bryan: Collecting in Cuba.  According to some shellers who were
there in the summer of 1998 and 1999, the marine shelling was
unremarkable.  There are some shells at the downtown vendors in Havana
of mostly common species, prices not all that cheap.  The couple of
stops on the 1999 trip to seashores were not promising.  According to
one knowledgeable individual, the shelling was less productive than
shelling in the U.S. Florida Keys (and a lot more expensive to get to).
Obviously, for you and the rest of the world excluding the U.S., it is
easier for you to get to Cuba than folks from the U.S..  You still have
to remember that although the Cubans encourage tourism, as a Marxist
country, they still have some extraordinary bureaucracy, according to a
admittedly frightened sheller who was detained for a couple of hours by
Cuban immigration before getting into the country.  Scenery is
fantastic, however, according to the travellers.

Carol Bodine: The law in Missouri is 10 live or 20 half valves in your
possession.  There are many spp. which are state protected which are not
currently Federally protected (such as Cumberlandia monodonta,
Epioblasma triquetra, Leptodea leptodon, (probably?) Cyprogenia aberti
and some others.)  Ron Oesch's Missouri Naiades is a good place to
start.  Only P. capax and L. abrupta are there which are on the Federal
list.  Where are you moving to in Missouri?

Linda Bush: Those who have not had the pleasure to meet Linda Bush, she
is a over 30 year member of the Greater St. Louis Shell Club, with
occasional times out for moves to Vancouver, British Columbia and New
York City.  She was winner of one of the beautiful cast Pleurotomaria
awards by the Indianapolis Shell Club, possibly the most attractive
shell award ever.  She also does beautiful shell art work.  She is
certainly knowledgeable about many aspects of shelling, and knew the
well known shelling icon's, Tucker Abbott and Bill Old, Walter Sage,
etc.  Welcome Linda to Conch-L.

Good shelling to you in 2000.

Alan Gettleman
Merritt Island, FL