yew YORK SHELL CLUB NOTES No. 261 April 1980 rage 
jchatinella ‘6 Hawaii. He displayed a number of these small, color- 
aide ain ree oe Pree RRO Ss many of which are sinistral 
ai Seiected examples of color ’ 
nainly from the valleys of Oahu, he described tne afetivun tye spe- 
ciating the family, and the bases on which many of the species Kiev 
been named . _The validity of most names is questionable, especially 
in view of Pilsbry's finding that there are no anatomical differences. 
Milton Werner, Recording Sec'y. 

REVIEW: 
SEA SHELLS OF WESTERN EUROPE 
by Philippe Bouchet, photography by F. Danrigal and @. 
Oi het by jmerican Malecolagiatay inc 1070, rete ie 
lished as a French edition, COQUILLAGE des COTES ATLANTIQUES by 
Les Editions du Pacifique, 1979. Translation by B. E. Picton. 
144 pages, 142 color photographs (often 3 or 4 to a page), a few 
aa re 2 1/4" x 7 3/8", nicely bound in gleaming paper. 
rice: $8.95. 
This is an unusual sort of shell book mainly because of its superb 
color pictures -- splendidly reproduced -- of live mollusks, seem- 
ingly in their natural surroundings. A particularly interesting 
set of pictures show the siphons of bivalves, which, according to 
the authors, are so characteristically different that they are 
"just as reliable a character for identification (to the generic 
level) as their shell hinges." Many gastropods are also pictured, 
such as pheasant shells, turrids, Naticas, Odostomia (dining on the 
juices of its Mytilus host) and many others. Many gorgeous nudi- 
branchs in full regalia also add to the beauty and interest of the 
book. 
Besides these excellent pictures are 11 plates of identification 
figures and a host of information in many pages of clear, simple 
text. Here the reader finds interesting facts: 
ITEM: Aeolid nudibranchs are able to eat sea anemones and still 
avoid being stung to death by their poisonous darts by secreting 
huge amounts of thick mucus, thus preventing the poisonous harpoons 
from penetrating the delicate nudibranchs. 
ITEM: Natica, or the Moon Snail -- here called Necklace shells be- 
cause of their collar-like egg cases -- are able to drill holes in 
the shells of their molluscan victims by using an enzyme to break 
up the organic matrix and then using their radulas to break up the 
freed calcium crystals. On the other hand, borers like the Oyster 
Drill and their muricid relatives use a secretion to dissolve the 
crystals themselves. 
ITEM: Littorina littorea, the Common Winkle, in 
organic detritus and is deliberately grown in oyste 
them clean. 
ITEM: When the American M 
gests quantities of 
r beds to keep 
a clam -- the steamer -- appeared in Euro- 
a si "patagu" in La Rochelle, France; "old 
Sts re: enimptons ngienc; “oocklebriilion" in’northers Trelend; 
and "smirslin" in the Shetlands. These names have now all tice sive. 
Placed by "sandgaper" in English speaking areas, and erase 8a ot 
French. I'll miss the "smirslins". There is also a short an 
