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10 American Seashells
can snail from the Belgian Congo or a tiny ground snail, no larger than a
grain of rice, from the Himalaya Mountains of India. The locaHty labels
attached to many of the shells in museums are milestones in recent history
Tobruk, Bizerte, Anzio—Port Moresby, Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf—Pusan,
the Han River, and Peking.
Accidental dispersal of marine shells, even in large quantities, is not uncommon,
and many unusual cases have been recorded in newspapers and
scientific journals. In the days when the beautiful ear shells or abalones of
the Cahfornian coast were used extensively for cabinet inlays, a sailing vessel
bound for New York with a cargo of these shells went down in a storm just
off Santiago on the south coast of Cuba. For several years, these magnificent
shells were being cast ashore on the beaches, much to the delight of local
collectors and small children.
A similar case occurred in 1873 when the "Glendowra," a four-masted
vessel, homeward-bound from the Philippine Islands on a cowrie expedition,
was wrecked off the coast of Cumberland, England. She had on board more
than 600 bags of Money Cowries destined for use in the African trade and,
during a heavy fog, ran ashore near Seascale. For years these shells were
picked up in excellent condition on the nearby beaches. Many collectors,
unaware of their history, regarded them as native to the British Isles.
The necessity of taking on ballast to make up for light cargoes on return
sailing voyages has been responsible for many introductions of exotic shells
to United States ports. The Money Cowrie has been picked up on one of
the beaches of Cape Cod and was presumably jettisoned there by a sailing
ship returning from the Indian Ocean. Ballast Point in San Diego was years
ago a fairly good place to collect Hawaiian shells and, during World War II,
a dozen or more species of British marine shells brought in ballast could be
found in the vicinity of Long Island, New York.
Wliolesale dispersal of marine shells has been carried out purposely by
man on several occasions. With malice toward none, it may be said that con-
siderable competition for the tourist trade exists between the Atlantic and
Gulf coasts of Florida. Lackinq- the abundance of attractive seashells which
are now considered prime tourist bait, the Atlantic coasters have made up
for it by their aggressive ingenuity. It is reported that some Miami hotel
owners have sent trucks to the rich beaches of the Gulf Coast, loaded them
with molluscan spoils and brought them back to dump on their o\mi relatively
shell-less beaches.
Mollusks have been used extensively in art and literature, and through-
out history we find numerous uses of shells as symbols. In many parts of the
world, and especially along our motor highways, the scallop shell is a familiar
trademark to motorists. The "Shell" Transport and Trading Company had
its origin in London, England, during the middle of the last century when
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