Avril, My best guess is that Stylommatophora is composed of styl- (Greek "pillar, column") + ommat- (Greek ommation, "little eye", diminutive of omma "eye") + phor- (Greek "bear, carry"). The (meaningless) connecting vowel between Greek roots, inserted to make pronunciation easier, is usually -o- (-i- in Latin). Does this snail have a little eye on the end of a stalk? Then Basommatophora would carry its eye at the base of the stalk. Does that make sense biologically? I'm translating "blind", without knowing what the animals look like. Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama