A couple of days ago I got my copy of the American Conchologist and in there was Dance's article "A Shell from Mars" on the absolutely improbable story of Chimaeria incomparabilis. As discussed in Conch-L previously this shell has an unworldly beauty, but seems to bring with it a dark shadow detailed in the article. The forklore of doom connected to the Hope Diamond has nothing on this species. Dance notes that since never directly encountered the shell he was distanced (protected?) from its 'baleful influence'. At the end of the article Dance writes "I confess that I have been tempted to dispose of this seemingly trivial piece of paper because of its former association " and that he could "ill afford to take chances with a shell from Mars". Looking at the photos a passing thought crossed my mind, I don't suppose that there can be 'ill-forces' attached to this article, could there? It must have been a prophecy. That evening on the same day the article arrived in our mailbox a catagory 2 torando blew through my neighborhood in Indiana. Our house was missed, but it took the roof off many of my neighbors homes less than a block away (no injuries in our neighborhood, at least). If it had hit the home surely my collection, housed upsatirs, would have been lost. I took this all to mean that the toranado was some kind of warning about associations with C. incomparabilis... I showed the article to my non-sheller wife and she made it clear in no uncertain terms, "You are NOT to bring that shell into the house" (At $20,000 the chances of that happening are pretty slim anyway). Just a light-hearted side note to this story. My deep sympathies to those who were truely impacted in connection to these events. Chimaeria incomparabilis now has a dark legend associated with it that rivials the smashing of the second-known Conus gloriamaris at auction to retain the orginal's uniqueness or the fabrication of Epitonium scalare to defraud 18th century collectors. Legends to add to shell-lore. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------