Excellent find "Ron shell" , you definitely have a knack for find good stuff
. as for the common names , the Latin will come to you after a while , Buy a
book called "THE COMPENDIUM OF SEA SHELLS " by R. Tucker Abbott . this book
is the "beginners bible" (the term "beginner" referring to someone who has
just began collecting , this is not meant as an insult)   for collecting as
it list all the families and many representatives of the species in the
family .
hope some of this helps ,
ferreter, , just plain old ferreter today ......
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, October 08, 1999 4:09 AM
Subject: Self collected shells - stories


>On a shelling trip with Peggy Williams to the Yucatan Peninsula a few years
>ago, we were driving by a beach - near Campeche - and I hollered at her to
>stop, as I was seeing  a bunch of large shells on the beach. We all
collected
>a lot and it wasn't till I got back to the hotel room that I found I had a
>Right Handed - Left Handed Whelk. (sorry folks - I don't know 'scientific
>names')...anyway I sent a FAX of it to the Smithsonian and they reaffirmed
me
>that indeed I did have a Busycon Contraium - but a right handed one......a
>great find for me.
>
>The other great find was with Glenn Duffy - another great shelling guide -
in
>the Solomon Islands...I was walking along a beach on a small island
(probably
>the first foot prints since...who knows when..) when there in the sand was
a
>showing of a piece of a Chambered Nautilus - "..sure, I thought.. just a
>piece..but NO..a complete shell...small but perfect - "fresh dead" as you
>shelling guys say. My second best collected. I am a very amateur collector
>and as you can tell, don't know the scientific names. But hope you enjoy my
>story.
>
>Ron Bender - Olympia WA
>