NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No.233 _ June-July-Aug.1977___ Page 5 
as others were ferried to the mainland in a small plane from F.I.T. 
Most lost everything in the wreck. Some are still having physical 
problems. An hour after rescue, a 70 mph wind hit the wreck and 
Bea A wiped it out. If you want more details, write John Baker, 
From: AMU NEWSLETTER, Fall 1976, pp 3-4 

PHILATELIC RECOGNITION 
We are proud to announce that on December 30, 1976 the People's 
Republic of Somalia issued the 2.90 Somalian Shilling stamp depict- 
ing Strombus oldi Emerson, 1965, the shell which was named in honor 
of William E. Old by Dr. William K. Emerson of the American Museum 
of Natural History. Mr. Old, of the Department of Mollusks, AMNH, 
is a long-time member and former president of the New York Shell Club. 
mkj/dr 
SOME HISTORICAL CURIOS 
H. Odé 
The...note here translated from the original French in the Journal 
de gee toon? Vol. 13, Dp. 68, 1865, comes from the pen of H. 
Grosse who reported on "The Intervention of Molluscs and Cirrhipeds 
in the American Conflict" (cirrhipeds = barnacles.). It came some- 
what as a surprise when reading it to see conchology, which in my 
mind has somewhat of a timeless nature, so intimately interwoven 
with the mundane affairs of men. The translation, somewhat freely 
abbreviated here and there, is as follows: 
"The latest American journals have disclosed a rather curious scien- 
tific fact, which is sufficiently related to natural history that we 
may relate it here. One knows that the main passes of Mobile Bay 
have been reinforced by Confederates by means of destructive devices 
known as torpedoes (nowadays, we would say 'mines.') and set up in 
such a way as to explode under vessels which would touch them when 
passing over. After some time, the metal enclosure of these terrible 
machines is covered to such a degree and encrusted by sessile mol- 
luses and balanoids that the motion of the exterior pin whose sudden 
release causes the explosion, has in most cases become impossible. 
This unforseen intervention has greatly facilitated the naval opera- 
tions of the admiral who commanded the forces of the North in these 
regions and perhaps saved him from disaster. Thus, also, the molluscs 
give their opinion in the American conflict: they oppose the war. If 
the members of the congress, now that the war 1S over, were not so 
busy quarrelling amongst each other, they would have a fine occasion 
to bestow some 'diplomes d'honneur. '" } 
From: TEXAS CONCHOLOGIST 
Vole Xlddg Oe linet Den tst eae eS 1976 
eh 
MALACOLOGY IN LITERATURE 
In TIME Magazine (April 25 1977) we read that, ata book auction at 
the Sineby Parke =p Soe Gallery in New York, $2,750 was paid for two 
Pages of an essay by nine-year-old Ernest Hemingway telling how a 
Clam in his school aquarium caught a goldfish by the’ taki ., ‘Sorry ,; 
that's all the item stated. mk j 
