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
>
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