NEW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES 
Page 2 April 1977 No. 231 
DUPUY GREER 
eath on March 24th of our eens a 
fter suffering 
friend and member Dupuy Greer, about three months a 
severe heart attack. Our deepest sympathy is with his wife, Marie. 
an artist who started even before his retirement to 
Shace tte pes of shells. He visited hospitals, schools, and other 
groups, giving lectures, displaying shells, and sharing the many 
surplus shells that he and his wife collected for that purpose ee 
their many beachcombing walks. A report of one of their trips w 
be found in NOTES 17534. 
. Greer was born before the turn of the century; his father was a 
tg lak of the Civil War. His advancing years did not diminish his 
enthusiasm -- he continued with his lectures and last summer was on 
the TV show "To Tell the Truth." He will be missed by his many 
friends and remembered by hundreds of those to whom he introduced 
the world of seashells. ie 
We are saddened to report the d 
FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH MEETING 
Among the announcements was a request by Dorothy Raeihle for contri- 
butions of material for the NOTES. (Please send them to Editor 
M. K. Jacobson.) It was also announced that a postage stamp recent- 
ly issued by Somali pictures Strombus oldi. By coincidence, the 
speaker for the day was member Bill Old himself. His subject, how- 
ever, was not Strombus, but Indo-Pacific Cones. 
Before getting down to specifics, Bill commented on the question 
of how many valid species of Conus are known. He pointed out that 
the Van Nostrand catalog lists 553 species, and that authority Alan 
Kohn believes there are about 400. Bill noted that 2,600 names 
have been proposed for recent and fossil cones, and that one species, 
ventricosus, has been named about 110 times. Describing the prey of 
the three broad groups of cones, and comparing the virulence of 
their poisons, he noted that geographus has caused the death of hu- 
man beings on four or five authenticated occasions. Bill showed 
slides that included rarities, color forms, freaks and juveniles. 
The last group illustrated the difficulty of identifying juveniles, 
and showed that many are pustulose. The photos also showed the 
variations within a species that geographical differences can bring 
about. Defying tradition, Bill ended the showing not with a sunset, 
but with a group of rare cones from Capetown. 
Milton Werner, Recording Sec'y 

A CORRECTION 
In last month's NOTES, No. 230, page 4, in the article "Bill Old 
speaks in Defense of Conus textile," we reported that Cliff Weaver 
had carried live Conus obscurus under his hat. Not so. We have 
been corrected and apologize for the mix-up in our memo. It was 
sa noe ee on these cones under his hat and got stung on 
ead; eaver carried them in a side poc 
and got stung on the thigh. ahs — eee 
The Conus of the stories were "not much more than an inch" in size. 
