WELL, Frank, just between you and me, I've known for some time how ruthless Shell can be, not least to its own employees. Official company histories are generally treacly, of course, but there was a real company spirit, at least for some decades. As to starting urban legends, I meant the joke about selling shells at gas stations. (Psst, Kathryn: Conch-L is about shell collecting at all levels, not just "high-minded academic discussion". We have Mollusca-L and Unio-L for that, but for some reason most people seem to prefer Conch-L.) Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama