Page 4 M 1980 No. 262 NEW YORK SHELL CLUB Notas 
eS SHELLS ON STAMPS OF THE WORLD 
A Bilingual Illustrated Catalog of Mollusca on Postage Stamps 
the Biological Society of 
hman Y. Arakawa, D.Sc. Published by C 0 0 
Nagasaks erofecture, 1979,, Ansrged MEMST aeelic Sxnibution, ty 
philatelic literature at the 1979 separ Pi 
5 i 2 hotos of stamps and cancel)a. 
pages, 16 color plates containing 55. Pp od in black. and wien an 
arg reproduc 2 
tions, about 75 additional stamps rep 11 stamps from 150 countries 
text figures. Describes over 1,900 she 
and se acm snene PrpmeABAO do: 1978 6" a Sal, pare hock: Avail- 
able from American Malacologists, Inc., P.O. Box 2255, Melbourne, 
Florida 32901. Price $14.50 plus $1.50 postage and handling. 
On examining this volume one can easily understand why it won high. 
est honors in its field. Dr. Arakawa has compiled a mass of infor- 
mation and arranged it in lists according to category with cross 
references. Do you want to know if a certain country has issued 
shell-stamps? How many times the pink conch, Strombus gigas, has 
been pictured on a postage stamp, and when, and by TeCut What gen- 
era are most often pictured? Has our local hard clam, Mercenaria 
mercenaria, ever appeared on a stamp? answers to these and so many 
more questions are good for hours of browsing for the average col- 
lector as well as the malacophilatelist (a new word to describe 
collectors of shell-stamps, for whom this book is a "must"). 
There are several listings, all informative. First of the two main 
ones is "Catalogue by Countries showing Shell Designs." The coun- 
tries are listed in alphabetical order, numbered in sequence, and 
the monetary system noted. There follows in chronological order the 
shell-stamps issued by that country, each with a description giving 
year, month and day of issue, frequently noting whether engraving, 
painting or photo, a code reference if listed in a stamp catalogue 
( # = Scott's; $= Gibbons; @ = Minkus), the number in such cata- 
logue, the denomination of the stamp, a description of the illus- 
tration, and reference to the systematic index. Following is an 
example; we use one of the listings under "Monaco:" 
86. MONACO 
100 CENTIMES (c) = 1 franc (fr) 
1972. IX. 25 17th International Zoological Congress, Engr. 
#843 30° ....Charonia tritonis ... Congress Emblem, 
Triton shell and creatures G21 
G21 refers to Cymatidae in the "Systematic Index ..." where, with: 
Charonia tritonis, are references to all the countries having used 
this species on their stamps, and the years of issue. 
The reader must first become acquainted with the "Key to Symbols 
and Lettering used on the Catalogue by Countries" on page 64, and 
the "Notice to users" (of the "Systematic Index...") at the bottom 
of page 206. These instructions are sufficient but we remain curi- 
ous about the introductory pages written in Japanese. 
Inevitably in translations there are lan ing i 
guage problems resulting 
typographical errors. A number are Uredend tn Tanee book but in col- 
text are easily understood and smilingly forgiven. 
Dorothy Raeihle 
