LET'S MEET SOME SHELLS
Latin abounds in conchology, as you've already noticed. Why? Well, because this is a hobby and science that spans the world. Englishmen, Frenchmen, Greeks and Indians all have their own local names for shells. But scientists everywhere give things in nature Latin names. Shells of the same sort carry the same Latin label on every beach in every sea. Much of the fascination of shell collecting is learning these names and how they were derived. . . for shells have been named for almost everything. We can't catalog 100,000 species here, but let's call off the names of a few of the interesting specimens you might come across.
Many shells have wonderfully descriptive names. For example, there's ARCA ZEBRA, which has stripes and looks like a miniature turkey wing and is commonly called Turkey Wing. Then there's a scallop called the Lion's Paw; NERITA PELORONTA, or Bleeding Tooth; and CYPRAEA CERVINETTA, "little deer cowrie" which resembles a spotted fawn. (Cowrie is a common name for a kind of shell used as money in parts of Africa and Asia.)
There are shells named for people: CONUS JULIAE ("Julia's cone shell"), PLEUROTOMELLA JEFFREYSII ("Jeffrey's Pleurotomella"), and ACLIS WALLERI ("Waller's Aclis"). Many are named for the place they were first discovered: UROSALPINX TAMPAENSIS, Tampa Drill; and IPHIGENIA BRASILIANA, Brazil Clam.
Some shells take their names from flowers: FASCIOLARIA TULIPA, Tulip Shell. Many get named from mammals—not always too accurately. CYPRAEA TIGRIS and CYPRAEA ZEBRA both have spots, not stripes. But CYPRAEA TALPA ("mole cowrie") does look a lot like a mole. Then there's (let's skip the Latin this time) Magpie Shell, Mottled Dove Shell, Mouse Cone, Horse Conch, Checkered Pheasant, and Cuban Frog Shell. There's mythology: Venus, Neptunea, Pandora, Tritonis. Music: Buccinum ("trumpet"), Citharas ("guitar"), Harpa. Religion is represented, too. In the genus MITRA are species PONTIFICALIS, EPISCOPALIS, PAPALIS, and PATRIARCHALIS. Some other fanciful names are: Great Heart, Jewel, Box, Rising Sun, Checkerboard, Wood Louse, Writhing Shell, Sundial, Key-Hole Limpet, Red Turban, and Black Lace Murex. And that's where we stop and draw breath. You'll find others—there are literally thousands more!
You've got to be a detective. These little animals are the natural food for many of the larger undersea creatures, so one of their greatest talents is hiding. Approaching danger, whether from octopus, fish or man, arouses caution in a small mollusk and it becomes as inconspicuous as it can. This can be pretty inconspicuous, as the novice conchologist learns early in his search.
REMEMBER - by all means, don't be a landlubber. Get into the water. No matter whether you go shelling up North, down South, in the West or in the Tropics, you won't get any satisfaction (or value) from collecting dead shells washed up on a beach. To build a good collection, you should take your mollusks alive, then clean and prepare them yourself. (More about that later.) You won't find live ones unless you go where they live.
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