Conchology Section
Auckland Museum Institute

May Meeting
We are very fortunate to have our much travelled Heather Smith talking at the May meeting. Heather will be sharing some photos of the South Island and talking about shell collecting in the Marlborough Sounds and Stewart Island (and all the other places where there weren't many shells!). Come on a fun trip to the South Island with Heather and bring any South Island shells you have for us all to view.
We shall also be opening the library cupboard - so there will be library books to view (and if you have any that need returning here is a reminder!)
We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 12th May, 2009 at Epsom Community Centre, 202 Gillies Avenue, Epsom. You are welcome to arrive from 7:00pm with the meeting commencing at 7:30pm.

April Meeting Summary
The Powelliphanta evening went well. We viewed the Solid Energy DVD "Snail: The Movie" and saw some great footage of the bleak terrain Powelliphanta augusta inhabits (or inhabited!) with lots of video footage of live snails being collected by search teams in yellow raincoats working shoulder to shoulder across the top of a rocky outcrop lifting up every patch of moss, etc.
There was discussion afterwards about the "ethics" of the snail relocation programme. It seems that there was considerable interest in having a follow up on this subject, perhaps asking DOC to speak at a meeting, and asking Solid Energy for progress reports - Martin will undertake to organise this.
Some Powelliphantas were on display (thank you Nick Britton), and a tray of large snails collected a long time ago.

Feedback on the Shell Show.
Alastair Moncur (the dealer from London) said it was world class and left the British show "for dead" in terms of size, enthusiasm, and quality/preparation of the exhibits.
Peter would love to have some pictures of the weekend's events to post on our website. Please forward to peter.poortman@xtra.co.nz.
Luen reported that it appeared we would be close to breaking even when all the invoices were in.
The raffle at the shell show (a lovely tray full of foreign shells provided and presented in usual beautiful style by Heather Smith) was won by Lena Trnski.

New Zealand Seashell Visual Identifier, by Selwyn Bracegirdle & Jenny Raven
An A4 book (around 60 pages) featuring approximately 800 New Zealand gastropods and bivalves with colour photos showing more than one view for each species. This book is in progress at present with publication later in 2009.
At the recent NZ Shell Show, Jenny and Selwyn had on show some sample draft pages, and provided the opportunity for those attending to pre-order this book at $60 instead of the 'price on publication' of $75. Because of the high level of interest, this pre-order offer has been extended to end of May 2009.
If you are interested in pre-ordering this book at the reduced price of $60 (add $4.00 P&P if you want it posted to a home address) then please send a cheque (made out to 'Creatus Design') to Selwyn Bracegirdle, 7 Astor Street, Karori, Wellington 6012, to be received no later than 31 May 2009 (please include your name and contact details). This deadline will not be extended.
Thanks to the many people who have supported this project to date.

Shell Auction
The shell auction will be held on Saturday, 10 October 2009 at Albany Hall - mark it in your diaries now.
It was decided at the April meeting that there was enough interest to have an auction this year, and we have managed to book the hall in Albany for Saturday, 10th October.
Discussion of length of auction and dollar value of lots led to this motion "that the commission at shell auctions be set at a minimum of $1.00 per lot" - Stace/Britton carried.
Any members who would like to submit auction lots please contact Jan on 09 444 8460 or email kevandjan@slingshot.co.nz. Please book your lots as soon as possible with the lot booking cut off date being 30th June, (however we do not require actual lists until 10th August).
The fine tuning of actual quantities will be done later when we can see how many requests for lots are coming in.

Poirieria Articles
Now that the Shell Show is over and you have time on your hands once more ... we would love to have some articles for the upcoming edition of Poirieria.
Please forward to Jan Munroe or contact Patricia Langford on 479 6149 to discuss.
We hope to have an edition out by October - but can't do this without your help!

Condolences
The Club extends their sympathy to Dr. Michael Miller whose wife, Joan, recently passed away.
In the past Dr Miller gave annual lectures to the Club which were greatly appreciated.

Annual Subs
Shell Club membership fees are due. If you have not yet paid, please forward payment to Luen Jones, CSAMI Treasurer, 1A Rewarewa Road, Te Atatu, Auckland.

Miscellaneous
Does anyone know what happened to the Charles Osborne collection from Great Barrier, c 1970?
If you have any information that could assist, please contact Margaret Morley on mmorley@aucklandmuseum.com or 576 8823.

Heather has been to visit Bob and Betty Grange. Bob is doing well and driving the car again. Heather reports that ...
"They are such good fun to visit. Bob was still using Betty's walker and Betty was walking without aid! They tell me that this was the first shell show they have missed in 42 years! There were a number of shells in their collection that I tried putting in my pocket but they did a pocket search - just kidding!"

Thomas Simpson and his family can help with the transport of shells to Italy in June if anyone needs to get some there to the new Enquirer person.

Wanted
Glenys Stace would like to beg, borrow (and preferably not steal!) an Indian Chank - Turbinella Pyrum (or also known as Xancus Pyrum) Linne 1758. Turbinellidae family.
This is for showing the natural shell as it is before embellishing and modifying for temple use and need not be perfect. Please contact Glenys direct at stacegk@xtra.co.nz.

Does anyone have a sturdy sinistral shell (needed by a teacher for science). It does not need to have data - any condition gratefully accepted! Contact Margaret Morley. (Refer previous contact details).

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