Here's another humorous shell name: Capulus sycophanta Garrard, 1961. "Capulus" means "swordhilt" (this snail is shaped rather like a limpet), and a "sycophanta" is a sycophant, a social parasite. Capulus sycophanta lives attached to scallops, drilling a hole through the shell. By analogy with Capulus danieli (Orr, 19__), it might be to steal the scallop's food rather than to feed on the scallop itself. If so, then this is what biologists call a case of "antagonistic symbiosis", where one animal benefits from the association and the other is harmed. Personally, I always found the scallop genus Amusium to be amusing, but I don't suppose that the original author intended a joke. Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama References Garrard, T. A., 1961, Mollusca collected by M. V. "Challenger" off the east coast of Australia: Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, v. 5, p. 2-36, pl. 2. (Not seen. Trusting Orr, see p. 12.) Orr, Virginia, 19__, The drilling habit of Capulus danieli (CROSSE) (Mollusca: Gastropoda): Veliger, v. 5, no. 2, p. 63-67, pl. 7.