Hi Conch-L,
Someone e-mailed me and asked about the article I had mentioned on
baiting fresh water snails.  Miraculously, I was able to locate it.
It was in a booklet published in 1974 by the American Malacological
Union, called How To Study & Collect Shells (Fourth Edition).  As I
looked through this old booklet of 100+ pages, I started to recollect
what a wealth of information it contained - including articles on
several topics we have discussed on Conch-L.  The publication is a
collection of short articles by such authors such as Burch,
Schwengel, Burgess, Berry, Clarke, Turner, Porter, Baker, Allison,
Clench, Abbott, Wagner and others.  Topics include: shore collecting;
cleaning techniques; dredging (3 articles); collecting from commercial
fishing gear; collecting from fish stomachs; preparation of chitons;
collecting from navigation buoys; collecting from sea-stars; fresh
water snails; trapping snails; fresh water mussels; collecting land
snails; collecting mollusks in desert regions; preservation of slugs;
mechanics of a shell club; arrangement of a collection; and several
others.
A few questions come to mind:
Did the AMU produce any comparable publications more recently than
1974?
If so, is it possible to obtain copies?
If not, would the AMU consider making this booklet available again?
Some of the information contained in it, especially species names, is
a bit outdated; but much of the information is timeless, and
priceless.
Paul M.