Moon snails make a concave boring. (Oyster) drills make a tubular hole. Jack Donner [log in to unmask]

>Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>

>Subject: Exciting boring snails, from Re: Need addresses of Houart, d'Attilio & Vokes

>Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 12:50:45 -0400

> >...or are there other gastropods around which bore cylindrical holes? (don't believe so). Countersunk naticid borings are far more common there, and as yet I have seen no Octopus borings... but would really like to... direct evidence of Oligocene octopuses!<

>Unfortunately, the straight hole=muricoid/countersunk hole=naticid principle is an overgeneralization that does not seem to hold up on closer examination. Some muricid species make nicely countersunk holes.

>At least some marginellids can bore shells, but I do not remember what the hole shape is.

>Occasionally, it may be possible to identify a likely source for fossil predatory borings. Pliocene large Mercenaria from the eastern U.S. sometimes have a large straight hole through them. The only large boring predator around is Ecphora.

> Dr. David Campbell

> Old Seashells

> University of Alabama

> Biodiversity & Systematics

> Dept. Biological Sciences

> Box 870345

> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA

> [log in to unmask]

>That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa