NeW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 236 November 1977 Page 5 
THE DE LA TORRE BXHIBIT AT THE SOUTH FLORIDA SHELL SHOW 
Morris K. Jacobson 
On my visit to the highly successful shell show of the South Florida 
Shell Club in Planet Ocean in Miami on Saturday, January 29, 1977, I 
was most intrigued by an exhibit dedicated to the famous Cuban edu- 
ecator, statesman, paleontologist, naturalist, and malacologist Don 
Carlos de la Torre y Huerta who died in 1950 at the age of 92. It 
was assembled and displayed by Mrs. Alicia Masnata Brewer, who knew 
Don Carlos as a friend since her childhood and, as the Spanish and 
English dedication read, "De quien no lo olvida, From one who does 
not forget you." Mrs. Masnata Brewer, a gracious and distinguished 
lady, spent much time with me, disclosing her memories of this re- 
markable man. I was particularly interested in this display because 
of my long association with the study of the land mollusks of Cuba, 
a field in which Don Carlos was an outstanding figure. The collec- 
tion on display consisted of memorabilia of this famous scholar. 
ange Mia I found the following to be of particular poignancy and 
interest: 
There were several displays of shells including about a dozen speci- 
mens of new species which Don Carlos had described and named for the 
first time. There also several displays of Polymita, the gorgeous 
"ainted Tree Snails" of Guba which were Don Carlos's favorites: a 
set of varied forms from his private collection; a set of dwarf 
specimens of several different forms, mature shells less than half 
the normal size; and, most interesting of all, a set of five speci- 
mens of actual species which were illustrated on a set of Polymita 
postage stamps issued by the Cuban government in 1961-62, each spec- 
imen placed next to the stamp on which the variety was illustrated. 
There was also a first day cover of four Cuban stamps issued in 1958 
on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Cuban 
scholar. These stamps showed: a portrait of Don Carlos in his ad- 
vanced years, a fossil ammonite, a Polymita shell, and an extinct 
fossil Cuban mammal, the latter three representing fields in which 
Don Carlos was particularly expert. 
There were also several photos of Don Carlos which I had never seen 
before: One showed his library and private museum containing his 
matchless collection of Cuban land mollusks which, after his death, 
was for the most part divided between the United States National 
Museum of Washington and the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts. Another showed a youngish Don Carlos with a 
fine black moustache holding his lovely 1h Gee granddaughter, and 
still another showed him bent over his work table, his attention 
fixed upon a specimen of his beloved Polymita. There was also a 
small painting of a splendid view of the Yunque of Baracoa in Ori- 
ente Province from where the finest examples of Polymita come. 
Among books, there was a copy of the biography of Don Carlos by 
Conde entitled "La Vida de un Naturalista," opened in the display 
case to a page illustrating a tray of the Polymita collection. 
There was also a copy of Don Carlos's work on the Fishes in Cuba 
and the Atlantic Coast of Tropical America," opened to a page on 
which were listed all of Don Carlos's honors and associations. Par- 
ticularly touching were two pairs of Don Carlos's cuff links in sil- 
ver and gold, made in the shape of small Polymita shells. and a 
nally there was a page from a Cuban newspaper with an account, plus 
