In memoriam Ir. A. Verduin, 1921-1988

Adriaan Verduin, honorary collaborator of the Mollusca department of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, died on 30 November 1988 in Leiden. Born on 14 April 1921 in the same town, Verduin trained as a mechanical engineer; following his move back to Leiden in the early seventies, he found opportunity to develop his interest in the marine molluscs of the Mediterranean and the southeastern Atlantic Ocean. A thorough collector, Verduin built up his collections by travelling widely in the Mediterranean area; his collection was bequeathed to the Leiden museum. His mathematical training enabled him to evaluate particularly the gastropod shell in all its details and his attention was drawn to the existence of different apical dimensions in the Rissoidae. In 1976 he started publishing his findings in Basteria, mainly in response to the books by Nordsieck. He succeeded in establishing with certainty the identity of many gastropod species with small shells. Verduin served the Dutch malacological society as editor of the newsletter in the years 1974-1986, on which journal he certainly left his mark. This obituary gives details of his life and work, followed by a list of new taxa and a list of his publications.