The Epitonium - Houston Conchology Society
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Houston Conchology Society
The Epitonium
Volume XXVIII, Issue 7 www.houstonshellclub.com March, 2021
COA 2021 Convention in Melbourne, Florida
Jamboree/Shell Show in June. There is so much to do and so little
The HCS Texas Jamboree and Sea Shell Search- time to get it done. I do not feel I could do a
ers are scheduled for October 15-17. The editor good job as the continuing President of HCS
apologizes for incorrect dates that were published with all this on my plate. The club needs a
earlier. leader who has time to devote to HCS and not
be bogged down in other projects which would
President’s Message detract from his/her effectiveness. It has been
a pleasure to serve you over the past two
By Dave Green years, although I don’t think you got your
money’s worth these past twelve months since
I hope all our members survived the recent
we did not have our regular monthly meet-
cold front without too much damage or dis-
ings. I hope that will change in September
comfort. We were without electrical power for
and we can renew our friendships with each
just over two days, as where many of you. It
other. Let us hope that will be the case since
was cold but we managed to survive and live
more and more people are now receiving their
through this. Needless to say, it was not a lot
vaccinations.
of fun. I feel sure you would agree.
HCS still has reservations for our annual
I have asked Leslie Crnkovic to head up the
luncheon at Monument Inn in May. I plan to
HCS Nominating Committee to propose our
talk to the Managers at the restaurant later
list of candidates of officers in 2021-2022.
this month to determine if it is safe to have
Working with Les were Cheryl Hood and An-
our luncheon/meeting. I will let you know the
gie Haneiko. We are a little late for nominat-
results in the April newsletter. With more
ing and voting on new officers but weather
and more of our members receiving their vac-
and other issues have slowed us down. You
cinations, I am hopeful we can still meet on
will see the list of names the committee has
our scheduled date and enjoy a safe and en-
submitted in this newsletter. Lucy Clampit
joyable luncheon once again. Stay tuned for
will be sending out ballots so you can vote for
more information on this topic.
the nominated individuals or insert write-in
candidates. My thanks to Leslie and the I would like to recognize Rusti Stover for all
members of the committee for their work on her hard work and time she has spent selling
this project. shells on eBay to add money into our club
My name will not appear on the new list of treasury. Rusti stepped up and volunteered
proposed officers. After much thought, I have to undertake this task and she has done really
decided to step down so I can focus on the well. I am amazed at the amount of money
COA 2022 Convention in Galveston. In addi- she has raised in this endeavor. I would also
tion, I am also Oral Auction Chairman for the like to say Thank You to Continued on Pg2
PAGE 2 T HE E P I T O NI U M V O LU M E X X V I I I , I S S U E 7
President: President’s Message from Pg1everyone who has donated shells for this
David Green
project. Most of the shells were already HCS property but we did
Vice President: have a few doners come forth. Rusti is continuing that effort for
Cheryl Hood
the club, so please let Rusti know just how much all of us appreci-
Treasurer:
Angie Haneiko
ate her efforts. If you have good quality shells that Rusti can uti-
lize for the sales, please let Rusti or Lucy Clampit know. We
Recording Secretary:
Rusti Stover would have been hard pressed to continue HCS had Rusti not vol-
unteered. WELL DONE, RUSTI ………… our sincere Thanks.
Corresponding Secretary:
Lucy Clampit
Slate of Officers for 2021-2022
The nominating committee of Leslie Crnkovic, Angie Haneiko,
Visit HCS online at and Cheryl Hood (Rusti Stover also contributed) submits the fol-
www.houstonshellclub.com lowing slate of nominees for the 2021-2022 year:
President – Leslie Crnkovic
CALENDAR Vice President – Angela Doucette
Treasurer – Angie Haneiko
Mar 2021 HCS Meeting Canceled
Recording Secretary – Rusti Stover
Apr 2021 HCS Meeting ? Corresponding Secretary – Lucy Clampit
May 2021 HCS Banquet ?
Normally we vote for new officers at the March meeting. Since
June 14-20 COA in Melbourne, FL
the pandemic has prevented us from meeting in person, you will
Oct 15-17 Texas Jamboree receive a ballot in April. You may write in a candidate if you
May 31- 2022 COA in Galveston have his/her permission to do so.
In Memoriam
During the last month, HCS has lost long time
members Ron Marr and Eunice Ganer. We send
our condolences to their families.
Ron and his wife Lauretta resided in Houston for
many years, but were living in North Little Rock,
Arkansas when he
passed away on
February 2 at the age of 91. He was a Research Geologist in the oil industry
and served in the US Army during the Korean War. He will be laid to rest in
the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery later this year.
Eunice and her late husband Milton resided in Corpus Christi. She passed
away on March 1 after complications from a non-COVID lung infection. She
retired from the Texas Employment Commission in 1995. She and Milton
were very active in the Coastal Bend Shell Club, and she was an avid Astros
fan. A memorial service will be scheduled for a future date.
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Tales of the Yellow Bucket
By Lisa Alderman
I’ve always been a beachcomber. It’s a treasure hunt! Family vacations to the beach would al-
ways result in bringing home a bag of shells, coral bits, and sand dollars to display on my book-
case. But it wasn’t until my first trip to Thailand in 2002 that the “beachcomber bug” really
took hold. We had just arrived in Krabi (Thailand) for a dive trip and walked down to the
beach. There I found a sea biscuit and several different shells. I suppose it was finding shells
different from those I’d found in the past on Gulf beaches that tweaked my interest. Enter the
Yellow Bucket into my life.
I bought the Yellow Bucket after that trip and have
carried it beachcombing ever since. It’s traveled to
Bali several times, Tahiti, Thailand, Langkawi, and
Borneo always getting curious looks from fellow
passengers and airport security. Of course, at Sani-
bel or Texas beaches, it’s not so unusual.
On foreign beaches the Yellow Bucket would always
get people’s attention. Most times we didn’t even
speak the same language, but through signs and
charades I would understand they wanted to see Yellow Bucket at Sea Rim State
what was in the Yellow Bucket. Then their eyes
would light up in amazement!
Olive shells in a variety of col-
ors would wash up in the surf
on the beaches at Nusa Dua,
Bali in abundance. I remember
one German couple (who did
speak English) asking to see Shelling
what was in the Yellow Bucket in Bali
and then commenting on how
they had been taking walks on
the beaches for several days
and not seen a single shell. I
told him to look down at their
feet. There were at least three
olives that has washed up
A morning’s walk on Sanibel. while we were talking. They
were delighted and amazed to
have them.
I don’t know the scientific names and probably not the common names for most of the shells I’ve
collected. I do though, remember finding some of the special ones, remember the sound of the
waves, the warmth of the sun, the feel of the sand under my feet, of momentarily escaping real
world problems and just letting the beauty of nature and the thrill of the shell hunt take me an-
other step down the beach. You never know what you might find.
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V O LU M E X X V I I I , I S S U E7 7
2021 COA Convention
by Alan Gettleman
Registrations for the COA 20/20 Return of Human Space Flight and the COA to the Florida
Space Coast show a good initial response as well as reservations for the Hilton Rialto in Mel-
bourne, Florida. We are optimistic that we will be able to have a convention in June. Florida
has already reopened major attractions such as Walt Disney World, Sea World, and Universal
Orlando, with social distancing and other health precautions. The space program continues in
full launch mode with manned and other launches, and we hope for a space launch around con-
vention time. Unfortunately, it appears the cruise industry may not get approval to resume
cruises from the Cape Canaveral port before our convention.
Registrations and latest information can be found on the COA website at https://
conchologistsofamerica.org/. We can answer specific questions by contacting Alan Gettleman
lychee@cfl.rr.com.
The convention begins with a tour of the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, June 14. Your local
club guide will be a NASA retiree who worked on several Space Shuttle missions, including the
two flights that included mollusks, and the Mars Pathfinder mission with the series of landers
that culminated with Perseverance in February. We have a Harbor Branch Oceanographic and
McLarty Treasure Museum tour on Tuesday, June 15. Both are full day tours. We hope to have
evening turtle hatching tours on those evenings, but we will not find out until later if we can
receive reservations for those spectacular oceanside events.
The convention begins at 1 pm on Wednesday, June 16th with programs and silent auctions.
There will be special shells as door prizes for each program. Wednesday evening is our Welcome
Party. Since we are on the Space Coast, we ask attendees to dress as their favorite astronaut,
favorite space character, or favorite space creature. The best in each category will get a space
related prize. The sky is not even the limit for your imagination of costumes.
Thursday continues with silent auctions, programs, and door prizes. Thursday night is the
premier COA oral auction of spectacular and rare shell items. We are still looking for donations
of premium items for the auction, which is one of the primary funding sources for COA. Contact
Dave Green, Oral Auction Chair at dgreen2@entouch.net. Friday continues with programs and
meetings, including the COA business meeting. That evening is the COA banquet with a guest
speaker from the space program. Update on COA 20/20 The Sheller’s Family Reunion Alan Get-
tleman.
The world famous COA Bourse with premier shell dealers is on Saturday (1pm-8pm) and Sun-
day (9am-2pm). We also have the COA raffles that include a spectacular 18 inch diameter Sail-
or’s Valentine made by a COA member. It comes with a detachable 26 inch stand.
Our hotel is the Hilton Rialto in Melbourne, with a rooms rate of $125 per night. Junior suites
are available for $145. All rooms have refrigerators, in room safe, and free wi-fi. The hotel of-
fers a pool, hot tub, tennis courts, and an indoor exercise gym. ALL events (except of course for
field trips) are located on the first floor of the hotel with easy access to all of the meeting events.
COA has weathered interesting challenges with conventions. Our second convention was sched-
uled on a cruise ship that blew up before the convention. The first convention Continued on Pg 5
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V O LU M E X X V I I I , I S S U E7 7
COA from Pg 4 planned for Key West was interrupted by a hurricane. These conventions did go
on and the attendees had a great time. We know you will have a great time at the Sheller’s
Family Reunion to meet and celebrate at the only national shell convention which will be held
in the U.S. this year.
This convention is a go! Masks and sanitizer will be provided and the convention will be con-
ducted under the most current CDC guidelines. Check the COA website for updated infor-
mation www.conchologistsofamerica.org.
Left column and above: the Hilton Rialto experience with nearby
beaches and spacious hotel accommodations both inside and out-
Located on the top two floors of the Dinosaur Store, in Cocoa
Beach, the 20,000 sq ft Museum of Dinosaurs and
Ancient Cultures showcases hundreds of authentic artifacts and
fossils from around the world. Museum pricing:
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More Shelling Adventures: The Quest and Its Rewards Continues…
By Darwin Alder
The edge of Neptune's Lair has yielded a fantastic array of experiences and treasures!
Beginning with a foray into the world of the beaches of Louisiana continuing with journeys to
Matagorda, Galveston, San Jose Island, Quintana, Surfside, Sargent, and Sea Rim State Park,
this explorer and companions Mary, Cheryl and Brian have had unforgettable experiences and
adventures. We have seen roseate spoonbills in flight, and in bays we have seen low tides, a
fabulous sighting of pelicans and other water birds, hawks, great blue herons, egrets, and cara-
caras. We have found all kinds of shells and other treasures from the sea and travelled many
miles!
Drift line at Sea Rim
State Park
Since the last writing: The list of finds now includes the following
shells: Amaea mitchelli fragment, Polinices duplicatus, Epitonium
angulatum, Epitonium rupicola, Thais canaliculate, Arca brasili-
ana, Arca ovalis, Sinum perspectivum, Tellina alternata, Busycon
contrarium, Busycon pulleyi, Busycon spiratum, Oliva sayana,
Donax variabilis, Dosinia discus, Pleuroploca gigantea, Cancellaria
reticulata, Hexaplex fulvescens, Phylonnotus pomum, Atrina semi-
nuda, Mercenaria campechiensis, Macoma constricta, Phalium
granulatum, Fasciolaria lilium, Strombus alatus, Littorina ir-
rorate, Littorina zebra, Crepidula fornicate, Raeta plicatella,
Turitella species, Thais species, Macrocallista maculata valves,
Macrocallista nimbosa valve fragment, Turkey wing ark valve, An-
gel wing valve, Scallop valves, egg case of a Busycon, Polinices egg
collars, sand dollar, and barnacles.
The quest continues!
PAGE 7 T HE E P I T O NI U M V O LU M E X X V I I I , I S S U E 7 Oyster Farming The January issue of The Epitonium contained an article about Texas finally joining the world of oyster farming: http://houstonshellclub.com/Epitoniums/2021-01.pdf. It didn’t take long for the applications to start coming in. This is from an article in the February 25th Houston Chronicle: “Hannah Kaplan, a 30-year-old Houston native, quit her full-time job several months ago to focus on launching an oyster farm in East Galveston Bay. She was the first person to submit an application to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after the agency laid the frame- work for the industry last year… Down the coast in Corpus Christi, well-known restaurant owner Brad Lomax will be able to enhance his business with the ability to bring oysters directly from farm to table and cut out the middleman… He is planning to meet that demand in the fu- ture with floating cages on an eight-acre site in Copano Bay.” You can read the entire article by going to the HCS Publications page: http://houstonshellclub.com/publications.htm and scrolling down to “Articles of Interest”. Armchair Collecting During the pandemic, John Haneiko has been doing some shell collecting from home. Here are two recent acquisitions: “The first is the giant Turbinella pyrum comorinensis - difficult to measure because of its bulk but it's a good 10.5" (273 mm) long. It was de- scribed as a door stop or bowling ball by the seller. It feels like a bowling ball at 6.9 pounds. It is from Sri Lanka.” The second is a “102 mm giant Harpa cabriti pluricostata from Madagascar.”
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