This may be a "BIG" year for our local population of glass bubble shells, Haminoea solitaria. Every few years they appear in big numbers at the end of summer and early fall, washing up in huge numbers and eventually showing up live all over the mud in the shallows. Then they will be mostly absent for a few years. Some references discuss a "giant" form called insculpta Totten, reaching 18-20mm, though of no taxonomic significance. In the years when they boom, I can find a few in the 17-18mm range out of many hundreds of smaller ones. presumably at the far size end of the bell curve. This year is looking different. They are starting to show up in drift in very small numbers, but about every 2nd or 3rd one is in the 18- 20mm+ range so far, so perhaps these are the "insculpta" of earlier authors? Has anybody ever found these in that size range? In some 35 years of visiting the same site, this is the first time I noticed any that big. Steve ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------