Hi, The email I received said it is customary for newbies to give some information about themselves. In going back at random through the archives I can find precious few who have done so but what the heck. I can be boring as well as anyone. Started collecting when someone at work became my very best friend and it was what she collected. For some time I tried to limit it to olives but of course noone ever really specializes completely. Anyway Phyllis Grimm and I attended a few COA conventions starting from the St louis one until the early nineties. Then she started collecting fossils. Of course in the meantime I had kind of switched to precolumbian pottery (thank you Royce Hubert lol). So then I added fossils to the mix. I own a one bedroom house. Starting to get the picture? Anyway shortly before she passed away Phyllis gave me most of her shell collection. And unfortunately every time I look at a shell list I think Phyl liked those especially. Of course then it finally dawned on me that Phyl liked every family especially. Yikes. So I am now limiting myself to margins olives cancellaria latiaxis, murex, volutes epitoneums, cones. Well, again you get the picture. Clearly I'm a collector but not a student. I can tell that when I check one of the many shell books I own (did I mention I seem to collect shell books too?) I really have no grasp of the nomenclature. And thus I tend to gravitate towards people who actually do know something which explains my presence here. So teach on, I'll be the sponge amongst all these gastropod people. Gary ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------