NeW YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 243 June-July-Aug.1978 Page 3 
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE APRIL MEETING 
President Veronica Johns wasted no time in getting to the first item 
of business, which was a call for agreement that there was no need, 
under the circumstances, for the discussion of business. Since the 
circumstances were the annual social meeting, there was no organized 
opposition. The meeting was held, as in past Aprils, at Dorothy 
Jensen's Broadway Dance Studio in Astoria, Queens. 
The speaker for the day was Russell Jensen, curator of mollusks at 
the Delaware Museum of Natural History. He showed and described 
slides he had made during two collecting trips for the museum, in 
company with other curators of the staff and owner John DuPont. The 
two three-month expeditions were made in late 1976 and 1977, and both 
ranged widely through islands and atolls of the south Pacific. Among 
the stops were Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, New Caledonia, 
Amadee Island and the Isle of Pines. Russell's pictures included 
magnificent scenery, teeming collecting areus, and close-ups of liv- 
ing specimens, many of them Cypraea. A series made at the aquarium 
on New Caledonia included corals seen under ultra-violet light, and 
other sessile animals and plants, and nudibranchs and fish. Russ 
reported that six months before the group's visit to Rangiroa, a 
child had died of a sting by a textile cone, and that on New Caledo- 
nia the nickel-mining industry in washing its waste into the streams 
which flow into the sea, thus contaminating both streams and sea and 
killing life of all forms. At Isle of Pines he encountered for the 
first time an opisthobranch that ejects its internal shell when dis- 
turbed. 
There were door prizes: a Voluta deshayesi won by Fred Cannon, and a 
molluscan jigsaw puzzle won by Betty Ann Shor. The raffle prize was 
a copy of Wagner and Abbott's "Standard Catalog of Shells," third 
edition, won by Rose Kurss. 
The auction was enhanced by shells from the collection of Dr. Jane 
Schick, shells donated by Nick Katsaras, lovely original art works 
by Adele Reimann, two shell paintings created and donated by profes- 
sional artist Al Scarpetti, and many other treasures donated by many 
other members. The conduct of the auction was enhanced by auctioneer 
Bill Old's knowledgeable comments on the material. Among noteworthy 
items were the facsimile of Vol. I of "Johnsonia," a used copy which 
sold for $10; two sought-after issues of "National Geographic”™ (July 
1949 and March 1969) together for $11.50; Mitra glabra, $15; Murex 
artemis, $18; Conus janus, $12; C. cleri, $17; and C. cedo-nulli, 
. e top bid was , for a group of small Conus. 
In-between intervals brought brisk trade to the sale table, handled 
by Lee and Frank Nelson. The final, leisurely "events" were the 
cocktail-or-punch hour, a buffet supper highlighted by superior home- 
made and donated cakes, and the animated socializing throughout. 
Milton Werner, Recording Sec'y 
and 
WE WEL NE BERS Mr. & Mrs. Sudol, Colonial Road, Lake Telemark, 
Beeevey Twp. Noy. 07866, NOTE THESE NEW ADDRESSES FOR OLD FRIENDS: 
Frank Hausman, c/o Okazaki, 1460 W. 7ist St., 8-T, New York, N.Y. 10023 
Capt. & Mrs. Blaine Hunter, 549 Longdale Crescent, Chesapeake,Va. 23325 
Esmond B. Martin, Box 270, 174 Post Road, Old Westbury, N.Y. 11568 
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