Page 6 December _1 No. 237 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB _NotEs 
le Janthina, over a 
colors, six green Papuina ulcherrima L., purp : 
hundred ae made a ao inbow Tight from Heaven. Tt was breath 
taking. 
The bottom section of a large double cabinet showed button making 
shells, pearl making shells and specimens before and after polish- 
fires Sy tile top: doaeen shell jewelry; the Chambered hep ee 
ries - whole, cut, polished, and antique soup spoons ma a rom the 
backs sections; a polished Haliotis sieboldi Reeve, carved and dated 
1890; a cameo, carved on a Cypraeacass Ss rufa L., beside an antique 
cameo pin. There were several Cypraea tigris L. with one specimen 
acid-etched with the Lord's Prayer; a child's toy, a tiger whistle; 
and modern etched tigers. 
The bottom of a twin cabinet held mollusks used for food: Abalone 
steak, more expensive than beef; Strombus gigas L. chowder and frit- 
ters; pen shell scallops, a little tougher than deep-water ones; 
soft and hard shell clams; mussels, oysters and the European land 
snail used for escargot. American-Italians make a chowder, Scungili, 
from our local whelks, Busycon carica Gmel. and B. canaliculatun L. 
Above were my two sailor's valentines: the ten-inch one I made for 
the American Museum of Natural History which was not used there, 
and a twelve-inch case filled with smaller designs and hundreds more 
shells. There were large color photos of valentines that I helped 
friends make. I included an old scrimshaw whale's tooth and a stat- 
ue, carved from a tooth, that has been in my family for generations. 
For the miniature collector: a shell "store" with a six-inch atten- 
dant holding a feather duster. Mirrors edged with minute shells 
must be dusted! There are tiny ecology boxes with "specimen" shells, 
ornaments under glass domes, inch-high jars with shells for sale by 
the umpteenth of an ounce, and a cabinet less than three inches high 
with four drawers that open to show "catalogued specimens." An an- 
tique china cabinet with curved front displayed modern items for the 
tourist trade: shell dolls, animals, boats, snails, mice with drift- 
wood cheese, Christmas cards and trees decorated with shell orna- 
ments - all things that children love (as well as grown-ups!). 
It is said that artistic talent is inherited; if so, mine came from 
a great-aunt. Her walls were lined with enormous gold leaf frames 
for the Victorian scenes and florals. I have a magnificent fish set 
which she painted with soft-colored seaweeds and shells. These fine 
French china dishes are dated 1890. Was my love for shells also in- 
herited from my aunt? 
As a photograph of some of her dishes cannot be used here. I feel it 
would still be interesting to list shells that a Wictariak artist 
painted. Bill helped select the real shells to place next to the 
painted ones. The smaller platter had a perfect Lyropecten tumbe- 
zensis Orb., a bivalve that I called Limopsis sulcata V & B, a blue 
crab, a sea urchin, and Bill's choice for a myStery—to-me was Tro- 
snus caerulescens Lamarck. The large platter, twenty-four by Ten 
aoe ad a Mytilus edulis Linne, a Strombus alatus Gmelin, anoth- 
rab and urchin, plus a Tellina, which IT called an albinella Lam. 
Four of the plates were easy: one had a Haliotis ruber Leach; anoth- 
er a Strombus lentigenosus L with an Ensis di 
s directus Conrad; on the 
third plate - another Mytilus with a freshwater Campeloma decisum 
