Four drawers of sea shells. The small inset below shows the underside of a Xenophora shell. You can see the opening where the animal comes out. Along the edge are stones the animal collected and attached to itself.Th
e Xenophora is a snail that attaches stones to its shell. P. Shank in N.Y. Shell Club Notes, 1969 writes that the snail first cleans the shell surface, fills in any gaps with sand, then secretes a sticky substance. The object, typically a broken shell or stone or even a bit of glass, is grabbed by the animal's foot and positioned onto the shell. The 25 species of Xenophora are identified by the amount and size material attached, its width, spiral angle, shape of the whorls, the base, lip, umbilical hole and color.No two shells are identical and there can be as much variation within a species as between species so biologists will not always look at traits to identify species. Even the collector might organize shells according to where they were found. The four drawers of shells above show the great variations within families of shells.
A page in a field guide will layout side-by-side similar shells. The similarities form groups, which can overlap. Drawings can be edited to an extent that photography cannot. The relevant traits can be clearly marked. Some of the guides try to compensate for the simplification by showing different views or variations. All the pieces in a puzzle look alike. To identify any any one piece I'll search for a specific shape not found in every piece. The smaller the choice to search through, the quicker the find, so I'll divided the contents of puzzle box into groups that look similar.
Collecting is a little different than finding a piece to a jigsaw puzzle. The new find in the collection alters the shape of the entire group. Shared characteristics can recede or advance. Even with the puzzle, each find adds to the image on the board. Collections bought on the cheap share a value with the highly-priced collection. The priceless artwork is so familiar that you don't see it any longer. Seeing side-by-side the variations renews the original pleasure. Similarly, the flea-market hound brings together transitory and ignored ephemera. Somehow the whole brings to life the part, defines it.
Collecting is a little different than finding a piece to a jigsaw puzzle. The new find in the collection alters the shape of the entire group. Shared characteristics can recede or advance. Even with the puzzle, each find adds to the image on the board. Collections bought on the cheap share a value with the highly-priced collection. The priceless artwork is so familiar that you don't see it any longer. Seeing side-by-side the variations renews the original pleasure. Similarly, the flea-market hound brings together transitory and ignored ephemera. Somehow the whole brings to life the part, defines it.
