Jenny Scarboro writes, "I would like to hear opinions on where conchology crosses over into the realm of malacology. "Isn't a malacologist someone who studies "mollusca"? By that, I mean shell and animal, together as the unit they are. "I don't understand how one could be considered a malacologist, lettered or not, if (s)he focused primarily on the shell and not the animal characteristics." A mollusk by any other name would smell as sweet. So would a malacologist. Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama