NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 234 September 197 Page 1 
The NEW YORK SHELL CLUB meets on the second Sunday of each month, 
September through June, in 
ROOM 319, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 
NEXT MEETING: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1977, at 2:00 PM 
PROGRAM: A TRIP TO ST LUCIA (with color slides) 
by Frank Nelson 
MOLLUSKS IN LITERATURE by Karl Jacobson 

CONTENTS ae. 
Highlights of the June Meeting Milton Werner f 
Name That Shell! Morris K. Jacobson 2 
Review: Murex Shells of the World Earl H. Reed 6 
AMU Convention July 10-15, Naples M. K. Jacobson 8 
New York City Molluscan Fossils Morris K. Jacobson 9 
ee SR ES, 
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE JUNE MEETING 
The annual election of Club officers was presided over by Ed Cowles, 
chairman of the nominating committee. He reported that all incum- 
bents had been asked to continue, and had accepted nomination. 
Since there were no nominations from the floor, a motion was made 
that the secretary be empowered to cast one vote for the entire 
slate. The motion was carried. 
The first speaker was Karl Jacobson, who described the basics of the 
process of naming shells, including the types of errors that result 
in synonyms and homonyms. (See: NAME THAT SHELL! beginning on page 
2 of this issue. -Ed.) 
The second speaker was member Michael Torrusio, who is employed by 
the Estuarine Data Corp. In working on the company's Lemon Creek 
project, he became interested in the clamming and oystering industry. 
His subject was the history and present status of the industry in 
the waters of the New York City area. He noted that the Indians had 
gathered annually in the fall, near shell beds, partly for the pur- 
pose of stuffing themselves with clams and oysters "for the winter." 
The first legislation against depletion of local beds was enacted 
in 1715. <A typhoid epidemic forced the first close-down of the in- 
dustry in 1916. Since then there has been a succession of closings 
and re-openings, ending, for the time, with the closing of beds from 
Great Kills to Ward's Point, Staten Island, in 1963. Since beds in 
either direction are open, and since the waters of the region are 
cleanest along the eastern edge of Staten Island, he wonders whether 
politics might be involved. 
Ethelyn Woodlock showed slides of her current exhibit in the Bergen 
Community Museum, Paramus, New Jersey. The showing included shells, 
shell paintings in her own exquisite style, shell curios, and mini- 
ature rooms in which tiny real shells were displayed. (The exhibit, 
INSPIRED BY SEASHELLS, was on display for two months, ending on 
Jul - Ed. 
Ane ) Milton Werner, Recording Secretary 
anne 
