For those members of conch-l that don't subscribe to mollusca-list, Dr. Rob Dillon posted an announcement earlier in December (copied below), on the publication of volumes 5-7 of the Freshwater Gastropods of North America (FWGNA). The latest volumes are just as beautifully printed as volumes 1-4. The essays are entertaining, some might even say a bit salty. A personal favorite is Volume 6, essays 23 & 24, the saga of my search for live Fontigens  cryptica  Hubricht, 1963 Hidden Springsnail. 

"It is our great pleasure to announce the publication of Volumes 5, 6, and 7 in the Freshwater Gastropods of North America series, extending our coverage from U.S. Atlantic drainages into the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee River systems of the American interior. These three important new references are now available from all the usual online outlets, and directly from the print shop at a substantial discount. 

Volume 5, by Dillon, Kohl, Winters, Pyron, Reeves, Watters, Cummings, Bailey and Whitman, reports the scientific results of a freshwater gastropod survey covering all or part of 14 U.S. states, a total study area of over 200,000 square miles. We provide full-color figures, a dichotomous key, range maps, and natural history notes for all 80 species and 19 subspecies of freshwater snails recovered, updating the taxonomy to modern standards. A new continent-scale biogeographic analysis is offered, and the objective system of abundance ranking by incidence categories we proposed in Volume 1 is expanded and updated. Three new species of cave-dwelling hydrobioid gastropods are described in the appendix. Accompanying the Volume 5 survey are two volumes of essays intended to support the scientific findings, offering additional evolutionary, ecological, and systematic notes for the fauna. 

Volume 6, collects 32 essays on the systematics and evolution of the pleurocerid and hydrobioid snails. 

Volume 7 comprises 36 essays on the ampullariids, viviparids, and pulmonates. 

All three volumes are available at the FWGNA publications page: www.fwgna.org/publications ." 

The FWGNA project led by Dr. Dillon present freshwater gastropods in a dynamic format for a group of gastropods that many might not have an affinity for. The books are simply fantastic. 

Lori Schroeder