Conchology Section
Auckland Museum Institute

Donations of books
Mr. Tapply has donated three books to the Section's library: Australian Shells by J. Allen (Georgian House Melbourne 1959), Native Shells - Nature in New Zealand by R. K. Dell (Reed 1957), and Guide To Shells Of Papua New Guinea by A. Hinton (R. Brown). Miss Joan Coles has donated Shellcraft by Paula Critchley (Pan Craft Books).

Annual Shell Auction
Sunday 28th September 2003 - Albany Hall, Auckland
Sales tables available free to members. Contact Patricia Langford ph. (09) 473-0147 for details. Registration of bidders starts at 10am. Tea coffee and some light refreshments will be provided but please bring your lunch.

Next Meeting
Tuesday 14th October 7:30 pm at the Auckland Museum.
Entrance by the rear Admin door between 7:15-7:30pm. We regret there can be no late admittance due to security regulations.
Speaker: Mr. Ian Scott will give an illustrated talk: 'N.Z. Molluscs viewed from underwater'
Feature Shells: A selection of shells from the East coast of N.Z.

President's report
Margaret Morley delivered a fascinating discussion on NZ deep water shells at our last meeting and her selection of hard to come by exhibits was most interesting.
The displays of members 'mystery shells' were intriguing. However, the true identity of Luen Jones's gorgeous, exotic land snails stumped the experts.

Club Lapel Badges
Our simple plan to reorder the Section's traditional lapel badge has hit a few snags (pardon the pun). Some members reported that the original design which features the poirieria shell with extended spines, was not user-friendiy at all. Actually the badge was bad, bad, bad! The overhanging spines have torn clothing and are capable of inflicting severe scratches. Also the initials on the badge CSAM needed to be changed to CSAMI to represent our full name, due to the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1995 when we officially became part of the Auckland Museum Institute, the membership body of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
So it was back to the drawing board. The intention was to improve the badge without compromising the integrity of the shape, design or colours of the original badge. The President, Doug Snook has redesigned the badge to confine the poirieria in the shape and by affection has added the term 'shell club'. This will bring the badge into line with the Section's current membership form (copy enclosed) which already includes the terms 'Institute' and 'Shell Club' in the title.
Should any member wish to object to the term 'Shell Club' appearing on the badge please contact Doug urgently ph. (09) 299-6476. We hope the badge will be available in the near future. The price will be between $6-$8.
The Auckland Museum Institute (A.M.I.) is also the Auckland Branch of the Royal Society of N.Z. and the Section's web page is posted on the RSNZ's web site. Thus the Conchology Section is part of a very spacious idea promoting science in NZ - The Section makes a contribution to science in NZ through active field work and the publication of the findings in our Journal, Poirieria.
A glance at the 2003 membership list enclosed will reveal that the Section's membership is widespread throughout NZ. Therefore it is erroneous to think of the Section as merely the 'Auckland Shell Club'. „
For 65 years prior to 1995 the Section was closely associated with the Auckland Museum. Today, we still enjoy that association. The Museum is our meeting place, our publication Poirieria is catalogued in the Museum Library, our own Library is kept in the Natural Science Gallery, Matapuna, and we have the use of the Museum's photo copying and IT facilities. Some of our members are volunteers in the Museum's Marine Department.

September Field Trip
Sat. 27th - Karaka Bay and Rock Shelf and the Glendowie sand spit - low tide at 13:54 is 0.3.
This month we visit an outer Harbour beach, adjacent to the sand spit of the mouth of the Tamaki River. Meet at the top of the path to Karaka Bay at 12 noon. For details ph. Rosa 620-4523.

October Field Trip Sunday 12th
Takapuna Beach. Meet at the Boat Ramp off The Promenade at 3pm. Ph. Rosa 620-4523. Daylight Saving applies. Low tide about 4pm.

Bits'n pieces:
Garage Sale at Patricia Langford's this Sat 27th 2-5pm and Sun after the Auction. 129 Lonely Track Rd. Telephone 09 427-8911. Large wood display case suitable for shells $120. Small 5 drawer shell cabinet $20. Miscellaneous wooden trays $2- $10. Selection of rocks, minerals, cave formations, corals, marine theme stamps & more.

Shell Exporters India (from Basheer Mobideen) jcishells@hotmail.com

Auction of shells from Wagner Museum Northland, 20 or 21st October, Webb's Manukau Rd Auckland.

Membership
The membership list for 2003 is enclosed. Please help sign up a new member - give the membership application form to a prospective member.

Web Site
Conchology section web site is: http://members.tripod.com/~nz_seashells
Our Web site officer is Peter Poortman (poortman@xtra.co.nz)

75th Anniversary Celebrations.
The Section's 75th birthday is in 2005. Thanks to Beverley Elliot for her letter and the loan of her photographs.

Auckland Museum Institute Lectures in October
Venue - Manaia Room, Auckland War Memorial Museum - 7:30pm - entry via East Door.
   15 October: Lucy Cranwell Lecture: Botanist Dr. D. Galloway, 'W & J Hooker Pioneer NZ Botanists'
   16 October: Dr. J. Hickford - 'The future impact of DNA'
   23 October: Dr. J. Heinemann - 'Stopping the superbugs of tomorrow'
   28 October: Prof. D. Penny - 'Where do the Pacific Peoples come from?'

Marine Science Lectures
Faculty of Science Auckland University is holding 3 free Spring public lectures.
Time: 7pm. Venue: B28 Library Basement. 5 Alfred St. Auckland
   29 September: Dr. G. Stone - 'Exploring Antarctica's islands of ice'
   1 October: Prof. J. Montgomery - 'Sharks: Aliens from the blue planet'
   8 October: Dr. L. Carter - 'Journey to the bottom of the ocean: Remarkable world of undersea NZ'

Library news
We have a new book on the Marine Reserve at Lord Howe Island.
To borrow any of the Section's books please contact our Librarian Gladys Goulstone - address 38A Church Rd. Mangere Bridge, Auckland - ph. (09) 634-2823. Gladys will also be in attendance at the Library in the Matapuna Gallery on the Mon. afternoon 2-3 pm before each meeting date. Please contact her regarding books on the list mailed Sept 2001 - Gladys has extra copies of this.
Gladys will deliver book orders to the meeting. If you send her an A4 P.0. handy bag with $2.95 in stamps, for each book, she will mail the books. Please return books to Matapuna as soon as possible or to Gladys at the next meeting, or return them by mail.

Poirieria magazine
Editors Tony and Jenny Enderby, P.O Box 139 Leigh, require articles for the next Poirieria issue. All queries: ph. (09) 422-6127 or email enderby@enderby.co.nz

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