Thanks for the information and suggestions on brittle shells. I'd like to hear from the Floridans and Texans, who have a lot of Busycon on their coasts. Are these large "whelks" relatively brittle for their size and shell thickness? Do you see a lot of broken whelks? As to the Gosport Sand, I should have emphasized that although the main shell beds are storm deposits, they are not beach windrows, but beds that were laid down on the shallow continental shelf. They don't show signs of constant wave action; in fact, the shell beds were probably covered by sandy mud between major storms (hurricanes). Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama