Dear Conchlers,

I would like to know how many young people are on the list. There is James
Cheshire, aged about 15, Jan Steger,
aged about 10, but further. In Austria we are only few members on the list.
I think at about 5 if it is so. I had made
malacology better known to schools, but I think it is very hard to work
together with some teachers, as they are
not willing to learn something new for them or more. They make more
researches in ecology, studying chemical
connections in waters and in air, so that the knowledge of species of
animals and plants is going lost. Some pupils
can't tell you even the most common names of plants, animals and so on. So
I find it wonderful when a young
boy is starting a collection of shells and want to learn a lot of them. He
has two or three books where he can
learn the shells quite well, where at the moment he can confront some
species and where he is able to see,
what he can obtain. I will do my best to supply him with material in the
future and I hope you will do the same.
with best shelling greetings to you all. How is malacology treated in
American or German schools or everywhere.
Helmut

Helmut "Helix" Nisters
private:
Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.netwing.at/nisters
office:
Natural History Department of the
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
Feldstrasse 11a
A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
website: www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at


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It is indeed a pleasure to welcome a new and young and enthusiastic shell
collector to our great hobby. This, my friends, is a golden opportunity for
all of us to grab this new and enthusiastic interest and encourage it's
development.

I am going to send this young man some shells I have collected here in the
Tampa Bay area where I live, as well as shells collected on my trips to the
Bahamas with Jim and Bobbi Cordy. I would hope that other of you self
collectors out there would possibly do the same. The future of our hobby
lies
in the hands of the youth of today. We need more young people to show such
an
interest if our beloved passion is to proceed to the next generation

Thank you Helmut Nisters for bring this young man to our attention and
introducing him to the list.

Martin Tremor
St. Petersburg, FL