>Thanks, everybody, for your suggestions! Fred's is most ingenious! Now, where to get old tights....<

Conveniently for those of us who are more interested in using them for holding micros than for their original purpose, nylon stockings have a tendency to get snags or runs in them.  Thus, it is easy to find pairs that are no longer wanted for wearing, due to a hole in one leg, but with the other leg intact and suitable for malacological purposes.

Not only are they good for holding micros as you collect, they also provide a good mesh size for washing away fine sediment while retaining the shells, once you are cleaning up your finds at home.

The only difficuly comes from the potential embarassment of asking people for their old nylon stockings.

    Dr. David Campbell
    Old Seashells
    University of Alabama
    Biodiversity & Systematics
    Dept. Biological Sciences
    Box 870345
    Tuscaloosa, AL  35487 USA
    [log in to unmask]

That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa