Dear Peter and Conch-L, The trip to Hawaii was vacation, and as you might guess, I couldn't help but look for land snails. We spent our two weeks on Kauai Island. Most of the vegetation we saw was introduced (we had to go to a wildlife refuge to see native plants, or above 1000 m elevation). Similar to the plants, the land snails I saw were introduced, including too many Euglandina rosea, the rosy wolf snail, the carnivorous one that is eating the native endemics to extinction. Another abundant one was what looked like Subulina octona. We also noticed Oxychilus alliarius, the garlic snail, sometimes abundant enough on trails that we could smell their garlic odor as we hiked by. I did see some tiny fossils of land snails eroding out of a cliff that may possibly have included natives. I didn't notice any larger fossils of the endemic Carelia (family Amastridae). Many of the fossils looked like the subulinids Subulina octona and Opeas sp., and I think I saw Hawaiia minuscula. The last one's name makes it sound native, but ironically, it was introduced to Hawaii from North America before it was known to science, then discovered in Hawaii and named, and subsequently discovered to have been introduced. I understand that the Hawaiian native land snails are all protected by law, but I didn't find where they are living. I hope they are surviving. I did pick up a variety of tiny sea shells from the beach including Pyramidellids and Leptothyra. I saw a few live cones and cowries, but I didn't take any. Cheers, -Tim- -----Original Message----- From: Peter Froehlich [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, 03 February, 1999 20:29 Any good shells in Hawaii?