‘Breng je schelp’ – een impressie

At the occasion of its 80th anniversary, the Netherlands’ Malacological Society (NMS) organised throughout the country a series of sessions with the theme ‘Bring your shell’. Sessions were held in public places like museums where experts, usually NMS members, would be ready to provide information on recent and fossil shells brought in by visitors. Those attending (often including youngsters) enjoyed short lectures, a grab bag with shells, seeing minute shells under the stereomicroscope and living snails like Helix pomatia and Achatina fulica. Remarkable shells brought in included a fine specimen of Conus gloriamaris, a juvenile Tridacna gigas and Turbinella angulata dredged up in the Netherlands and adapted as a horn. The sessions drew considerable attention from the local press but regrettably the NMS acquired very few new members.