Andrew Grebneff Wrote:
> In my opinion public museums are the pits. There is an increasing
> trend to "pop" museums, with near zero natural history and absolutely
> zero information.
Respectfully, i must disagree here: There are many Natural History and
private museums worldwide, which, while they may not be quite as
scholarly and thorough in their science as a hard-core conchologist or
malacologist may desire, nevertheless serve good and valid puposes such
as introducing the public to various componants of Natural History in a
non-intimidating, relatively informal manner. This is especially
important for children: to a 7 year old marvelling at an exhibit of
seashells, perhaps in modelled natural settings, telling him or her that
this is a "Trichotropis borealis Broderip and Sowerby I, 1829" will not
necessarily encourage them to become more interested in science in
general or malacology in particular: something like "Northern Hairy
Capulid" (ok, perhaps i picked a bad example ;--).) might just pique
their interest - although the better exhibits usually present the
scientific name in brackets, for the more advanced visitor. Just
because a museum is not geared towards a post-graduate level, this does
not make it "pop", or worthless.
Regarding interesting shell museums, these are sprouting up all over
the place these days, although i regret i cannot immediately supply
particulars. For example, in Japan a couple of fine examples either
just opened, or are in progress, and Italy has several excellent private
museums dedicated to conchology. In the USA there is of course the
Baily museum, but there are also some wonderful gems such as Tom Rice's
outfit in Seattle, which i dealy regret having missed this summer. It
is Choc-a-bloc FULL of excellent natural history content - even a
section from Eastern Canada.....
Which brings us to the other topic i can perhaps shed a bit of light
upon:
Carolyn Petrikin Wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I'm in need some help, especially from those of you in the US east
> coast, Mass., northward, or possibly Canada. I have some Nucella
> lapillus from an old collection. The only data is from "Crescent
> Beach salt marsh on rocks covered with bladder seaweed [Fucus] and blue
> mussels." Please let me know if you have any idea just where this is?
>
> Thanks so much,
> Carolyn Petrikin
This likely one of my colections - i'll bet at least one is a frilly
specimen, which occur with fairly high frequency at this locality (don't
let anyone tell you they only come from the Bay of Fundy!!). I'll wager
this is a result of what i like to call "data abbreviation" - a common
practice that occurs when someone recieves a lot with decent data which
they then decide for various reasons, to shorten. The result is often
rather unsatisfactory - as in this case, where even the country of
origin has been "abbreviated" out of existance!!!
"For the record", Crescent Beach is one of the best shelling locations
in Nova Scotia, with splendid salt marsh and Zostera ("eel-grass")
habitats, containing about 25 species (don't laugh - for up here that's
the Jackpot for any given intertidal locality!!). It is on the South
Shore, about a 90 minute drive from Halifax - in Lunenburg county, near
Bridgewater. (see
http://www.birdingamerica.com/NovaScotia/crescent_beach.htm for
directions and pix: the best collecting occurs 3 or 4 times a year on
the lowest of tides - if you plan a shelling trip to this neck of the
woods the timing is absolutely critical!! The Zostera stands are
fascinating: a dozen mollusc spp inhabit the algae-covered blades of
sea-grass - some feeding upon it, such as a specialized, elongate form
of Tectura testudinalis that locally fills the niche of the extinct
Lottia alveus, to predators such as Nucella (oddly enough, often
frilly!), which feed on the herbivores: it is a well-developed miniature
ecosystem that would make a great masters thesis for someone sometime....
From the somewhat warmer (the Groundhog has spoken - spring is almost
sprung!!) Great White Southeast,
Ross m.
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