I received a large Semicassis granulatum packed in only a padded envelope (an ebay purchase) years ago. I was stunned when I saw how it was shipped and astounded it arrived without any damage (not so much as a chip or ding). John Timmerman Wilmington NC -------------- Original message from Paul Callomon <[log in to unmask]>: -------------- > Folks, > > A near-miss incident with the postal service today prompts me to point out the > following: > It is very risky to pack and send specimens in flat envelopes, even padded ones, > as these pass through motorized rollers during the mail handling process. In > today's case, the plastic vial with the specimen arrived heavily crazed but > happily did not actually fracture, so the shell survived. This was a squeaker, > though, and in an earlier case a vial that was included in between the pages of > a magazine (for protection) was pulverized. > Even tiny things should be sent in boxes or mailing tubes, as these are handled > by humans and not fed into the automated system. > > Cheers, beers and negative smears > > PC. > > Paul Callomon > Collections Manager > Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates > Department of Malacology > Academy of Natural Sciences > 1900 Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA > Tel 215-405-5096 > Fax 215-299-1170 > Secretary, American Malacological Society > On the web at www.malacological.org > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs > To leave this list, click on the following web link: > http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 > Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and > click leave the list. > ----------------------------------------------------------------------