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viii like to record my good fortune in being able to consult the National Museum collections on holidays and during after hours. Austin H. Clark stands foremost as spiritual guide and counselor in the many intricacies of preparing a book for the public. Dr. Harald A. Rehder, curator of the Division of Mollusks, with whom I have been pleasantly associated for several years, has kept a weather eye on this project and in not a few instances has made valuable suggestions. I have gratefully and heavily leaned on the Minutes of the Conchological Club of Southern California which represents the work of John Q. Burch, A. Myra Keen, A. M. Strong, S. Stillman Berry and many others. Mr. Gilbert Voss kindly helped me with the section on squid and octopus. This is also true of Johnsonia, a magnificent work produced by William J. Clench, Joseph Bequaert, Ruth D. Turner and others. I would also like to thank my friends in the National Museum for constant encouragement.

The heaviest debt is to the countless amateur collectors of American mollusks. Were it not for their enthusiastic pursuit of shells and their unselfish desire to share their treasures with our leading museums, our scientific collections undoubtedly would be half their present size. It is my sincere hope that this book, by its usefulness, will measure up to their kindnesses and friendships.

Illustrations make the book, and American Seashells could not have been successfully completed without the aid of Frederick M. Bayer, Associate Curator in the National Museum, who is responsible for the colored plates, including the lovely paintings of western Atlantic nudibranchs. Most of the other photographs were also taken by him. Special thanks are due William J. Clench who made available all the photographs and drawings that have appeared in Johnsonia. The colored paintings of Pacific coast nudibranchs are taken from F. M. MacFarland's “The Opisthobranchiate Mollusks from Monterey Bay, California, and Vicinity,” which appeared in 1906 in the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries Bulletin 25. All of the exquisite pen drawings of shells, unless otherwise noted, were executed by the U. S. Army Surgeon, John C. McConnell, in connection with researches done by William H. Dall of the U. S. Geological Survey. Our photographs of Florida Thorny Oysters are from specimens kindly sent on loan by Leo L. Burry of Pompano Beach, Florida.

Notable credit is due Chanticleer Company of New York City which took such pains in the preparation of the colored plates, and to the printer who retained with such remarkable fidelity the beauty of the original photographs.

R. T. A. Washington, D.C. September 15, 1953.