Shellsand workshops

Two workshops will be held, on Saturday 10 April 2010 in Reading, and on Saturday 24 April in Cambridge.

Alvania lactea

Their main purpose is to introduce beginners to working with shellsand. The main part of the day will be a long practical session in which participants, working either with their own shellsand or with shellsand provided by the organisers, will

• sieve a sample,
• sort through the fractions, and then
• identify what they have found with help (and hand-outs).

Caecum trachea

Participants will be able to take their finds away at the end of the day, as a starter reference collection, together with course handouts.

The day will also include various short talks on topics like how to find shellsand; how to clean and sort shellsand; identification; and how to handle, label and store small shells.

Rissoa guerinii

All necessary equipment will be provided, including microscopes, sieves, brushes and forceps, gelatine capsules and specimen boxes, and so on.

Those with some experience would also be very welcome; we will include a show-and-tell session towards the end of the day so that participants can see a wider range of material, using a videomicroscope that links to a PC screen.

This is not a Conch. Soc. meeting, and is open to all; a small charge will be made to cover xeroxing and disposable equipment costs.

For information contact Christine Street:
e-mail preferred, but if you don’t have e-mail, 020 8554 8671. If you haven’t booked, places may still be available.

Christine Street,
Bas Payne,
Jan Light