About 15 years ago, I first realized that hardly any two shell books agree
on anything and that molluscan taxonomy is relatively primitive and
subjective. This was a major education and shock for me, coming from an
engineering background where things are black or white..
Our society doesn't pay much for research in natural history unless it
results in something saleable such as food or medicine. Therefore our
knowledge of those areas does not compare with our advances in computers,
electronics, entertainment, sports, or transportation
In self-defense (after purchasing the same species under a half-dozen
names), I have since tried to maintain databases on about six families,
based on the opinions of current experts in those families (another
subjective choice).
It's been tough, and the experts keep changing their mind ... And there are
another 500 families

John
Lancaster, PA

At 09:57 PM 2/10/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Wake up guys. This is nothing more than others have done, recently, with
>Conus, Cypraea etc.
>No I am not going into specific cases, if you collect or study molluscs it
>should be obvious
>to the most casual observer. Bad science [taxonomy], you bet.