Interesting. I heard about an Abalonia off California some years back. Someone wanted to build up a submerged bank into an island and declare independence. If memory serves, the idea failed when the United States, following the example of so many other countries, extended its boundaries 200 miles out into the sea. Does any country, or part of a country, have a shell on its flag? Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama P.S. to Art Weil (Re: Linnaeus): Sorry! The ICZN recommends that lectotypes and neotypes not be designated except as part of a revision of a species or group of animals, not simply as a matter of tidiness. Designating your friends or yourself as a lectotype would therefore be in poor taste. Besides, I think it's already been done more than once before. But take heart; you can do better than merely being a neotype. You can truthfully claim to be an Art (German for "species").