yew YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 2 February 1978 Page 3 
A FASCINATING EXPERIENCE "DOWN EAST" 
As a child, upon reading Augusta Foote Arnold's account #4 Sea 
Beach at Ebb Tide" of the Bar Harbor area, 1 was aatenaaned that ‘ 
some day I would visit this fabulous place. This ambition has been 
realized many times over, as my wife and I have spent most of our 
vacations, for more than twenty-five years, either on Mt. Desert Is- 
land or in nearby sections of Maine's Hancock County. In recent 
years we spend nearly a month there, usually in late August and Sep- 
tember, and invariably leave with great reluctance. As an aside, 
we are vastly amused by tales of tourists who arrive on Friday night, 
reserve a motel room for the weekend, then on Saturday ask for a re- 
fund because they "have seen all there is to see."! 
One method of collecting specimens of Buccinum, Neptunea and, occa-~ 
sionally, Colus, is to haunt the town docks in tte aioe eee meet 
the incoming Lobster boats, and try to engage the (usually) taci- 
turn lobstermen in conversation, particularly with regards to the 
possibility of setting aside a few "wrinkles" (Buccinum) or "Ten- 
Ringers" (Ne tunea) which get into the traps. (There seems to be 
no local name for Colus SY There is also the hope that one 
of the lobstermen will have failed to thoroughly wash down his boat 
on the run in, and that specimens of the aforementioned species may 
be found rolling about on the deck, or even wedged in the slats of 
a trap which has been kept aboard. 
Two summers ago, while engaged in this often frustrating activity, 
one of the more friendly boat owners said, “You ought to meet Dave 
Blaney, out on Ironbound." Further details were rather vague, but 
to the general effect that Mr. Blaney shared an interest in "“conkles" 
(general term for larger snails), and might have some information 
about them. I might have forgotten this conversation but for the 
fact that several days later I had the unbelievably good fortune to 
find 26 years of "The Nautilus," 23 of them bound, no less, in an 
antique dealer's stock, and was able to purchase these, with other 
old shell papers, for a modest price. 
In reading some of the earlier issues I came upon articles, around 
the turn of the century, concerning dredging for mollusks in French- 
man's Bay by one Dwight Blaney, of Ironbound Island. Suddenly it 
all fell into place -- Dwight Blaney ~~ Ironbound Island -- Dave 
-- of course! But our vacation was over, 
Blaney -- Tonicella blaneyi 
and T could do Tittle about it then. 
ecked "American Malacologists," found that 
information was wanted on Dwight Blaney, verified this with Tucker 
Abbott and tried to write to David Blaney who, I had been told, spent 
the winters "somewhere up in Boston." There was no reply.. Upon ar- 
rival at Bar Harbor this year, I gathered further bits of informa- 
tion, including a brief description of the Blaney's boat, plus the 
fact that he frequently came in from the island for various reasons. 
A few days later, I spotted the "Sea Pigeon” at the dock, located 
Mr. Blaney and introduced myself. 
He seem i ased that someone was interested in the is- 
land es eens collecting activities, and graciously of- 
fered to take my wife and me out to Ironbound next day to see the 
"Studio" and the collection. Needless to say, we accepted, and were 
In the ensuing months I ch 
