MINUTE SHELLS

Small-sized shells, which are also called "minute shells" or “micromollusks,” are not usually subjects in sea-shell books. Yet, these small shells are an important part of mollusk studies. They are usually collected as “grunge,” taken into the lab, and carefully sorted into different species. It can be pains-taking work, and most shell collectors would rather leave this kind of work to other enthusiasts. That is where a person like Bertram (Bert) Draper filled an important role. Bert liked to collect and sort “grunge.” Then he took it to another whole level, when he painstakingly glued numerous examples of common micromollusks (mostly gastropods, some bivalves, and a few scaphopods) onto a piece of sturdy paper and placed it into a single plastic box, with a closable lid (see image below). Each shell was also labelled as to its identification. He then donated these boxes to various shell organizations that annually held auctions to raise money for their yearly activities; especially awarding small-research grants to students doing their research on mollusks.

These plastic boxes became a familiar sight to Southern California shell collectors who attended annual shell meetings (with auctions) in the 1980s and 1990s. At one of these events, I bid on and bought one of these plastic boxes (shown above) filled with micromollusks. For me, it represents a treasurable acquisition because when Bert passed in 2000, the very useful plastic boxes with many minute shells (all properly classified) were no longer readily available at the auctions.

Within each plastic box, Bert also included a typed list of all the minute shells contained within, as shown in the above image.

Close-ups of two of the examples of the minute mollusks that Bert put into each of his plastic boxes.

I knew Bert and liked the man. Whenever I visited the Malacology Collections at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Bert was usually around because he was a volunteer who helped in micro-photography. He was an accomplished expert in micro-photography of seashells, and he gave me some good tips on how to photograph my fossil examples. For information about him, I encourage you to read the article by Groves and McLean (2001).

In the years between 1972 and 1974, Bert wrote several articles (at least 9) for The Tabulata, a now discontinued newsletter concerning the study of seashells (malacology). These articles concern various minute-shell species and also how to photograph minute shells. An article written by him (Draper, 1972) is especially relevant to this blog post. 

References Cited:

Draper, B. 1972. Minute shells-part 1. The Tabulata, 5(4), 3–6. https://www.scamit.org.tools >Mollusca 

Groves, L.T. and J.H. McLean. 2001. Bertram C. Draper 1904–2000. The Festivus 6:63–65. This publication can be accessed via biodiversitylibrary.org and also via

https://researsch.nhm.org> dataimages > Draper