Andrew wonders how long habitat will remain for our beloved mollusks and it is good that we worry. But all is not lost. I am beginning to pick up signals from demographers that counter this pessimism. Recently I encoutered the statement that the human population will never again double. All human populations are aging and birth rates have fallen alarmingly. The US rate is now 1.98, well below the 2.1 need to maintain population size and the same is basically true for Europe. Asian and African rates are falling and death rates from HIV are serious problems. Long term population may be headed down!