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CHAPTER V
Collecting
American Seashells
Instructions for collecting seashells are much akin to revelations of the
secrets of good cooking. Everyone has his favorite methods and, despite
the most expert advice one may obtain from books, experience is the surest
path to success. There are, however, a number of fundamentals which will
help guide the collector in obtaining a representative series of our seashells
with the least trouble. The hints offered here are more in the order of how
collecting problems may be solved than a revelation of how and where to
find rare specimens.
The most successful collectors mix together four ingredients to obtain
what appears to most of us "unusual luck" in finding good shells. These
are a knowledge of the habits of mollusks, a familiarization with the physical
conditions of the ocean and the seashore, a sensible choice of collecting equipment
and, perhaps most important, a large proportion of perseverance. The
first three of these may be acquired, to some degree at least, from books and
from the advice of veteran collectors, but only keen observation in the field
and many hours of trial collecting will develop satisfactory techniques. It
is true, of course, that strolling the more productive beaches at certain times
of year will produce encouraging results, but soon the common species have
been collected and more often than not the remaining specimens are far
from perfect. The moment a collector ceases to be a beachcomber and begins
to search for living mollusks in their natural haunts he has opened unlimited
possibilities of acquiring a remarkably beautiful and complete collection.
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