Shipping Shells without an Odor. On a collecting trip to the South 

 Pacific and the Indian Ocean, Mrs. Mary Eleanor King obtained a formula 

 from a chemist in Australia which worked marvelously in shipping shells; 

 it is a white powder and the formula as given to her is 7-0-0 Cresantol 

 No. 3. After preliminary cleaning, the shells were wrapped and the powder 

 sprinkled liberally through the package on the wrappers (not the shells). 

 The shipments came through without an odor. — Hawaiian Shell News, 

 Vol V, No. 8 



DREDGING FOR EVERYONE 



By Tom Burch 



Reprinted from 1941 Annual Report, American Malacological Union 



I suspect that almost every shell collector who has gotten up at an 

 unearthly hour in the morning to collect at a minus tide has gazed out 

 beyond the narrow bend of shore left uncovered by the retreating waters 

 and wondered what rare treasures he could find if the sea would but drop 

 a few hundred feet or so for a while. Or what shell collector, strolling 

 along the beach after a storm, hasn't wished that he could go out beneath 

 the waves and collect live, perfect specimens of some of the shells that lie 

 broken and worn at his feet? The vast majority just sigh and decide that 

 the "deep stuff" can only be collected with complicated and expensive 

 equipment and is only for institutions and individuals with plenty of 

 money. A few consider it further and decide that while it would be much 

 easier and more pleasant to dredge from a two-hundred foot cruiser with 

 power winches and a crew to do all the work, if one has a strong back and 

 a few dollars he too, can get some of this material. 



Whereupon the ambitious collector makes a triangular or rectangular 

 iron frame with a row of holes along one side, or gets a blacksmith to make 

 one for about fifty cents, and gives a friendly fisherman fifty cents for some 

 old fine-meshed fish net. On the way home to sew the net onto the frame, 

 he stops at a hardware store and buys about 200 feet of Yg inch manila 

 rope for two or three dollars. Then, taking this simple equipment and some 

 containers for the catch, he goes to the beach, rents a skiff for a few hours, 

 rows merrily away from piers and boats, and begins to dredge. A few hours 

 later, depending on the physical condition of the dredger, the ambitious 

 collector returns wearily to shore, a tired but happy person who, in a couple 

 of hours, has collected more different kinds of shells that are new to his 

 collection than he had dared to hope. 



I must hasten to say that it does not always turn out as nicely as that. 

 The spot chosen for dredging makes a great deal of difference. Some who 

 would have become ardent dredging fans have given it up as a bad job 

 after they tried to dredge in a shallow mud slough and got nothing but 

 barren gooey mud, or after they tried to dredge among large rocks and got 

 nothing and perhaps lost their gear. If the embryo dredger is persistent, 

 however, and not easily discouraged, he will continue, profit from his mis- 



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