The work which I am currently engaged in centres on the evolution and functional morphology of shell ornament in epifaunal bivalves. The Society had awarded me funds to travel to Florida to search for, study in situ, and collect individuals of the highly spinose epifaunal bivalve Spondylus, as Florida, and the Caribbean region in general, have traditionally been sources of commercial collecting of Spondylus americanus. Despite recruiting the collection capabilities of the Keys Marine Laboratory, only one living specimen could be found. I therefore turned my efforts towards amassing a collection of fossil spondylids and chamids from the Pliocene Pinecrest Beds of Sarasota, to be deposited at the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, and recent beach material, including pinnids, plicatulids and chamids. These collections are being used for microstructural and growth line analyses. In addition, I had been assured that living Spondylus could be found in Discovery Bay, Jamaica, so I therefore travelled on to the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory which allowed me to stay for a week without charge and to whom I am sincerely grateful. Although Spondylus had been sighted in Discovery Bay until quite recently, I found only one dead right valve. At Discovery Bay, the decline in Spondylus populations has probably been the result of recent hurricane damage, which has had a severe effect on the reefs. In addition, increased sedimentation in the bay because of nearby bauxite mining have also had dramatic effects. It seems that populations in the Florida-Caribbean region as a whole may also be in danger, probably because of the activities of amateur and commercial shell collectors.

Because the original proposal for the Centenary Award could not be achieved in full, The Society granted me funds for the cost of travel from Florida to Jamaica, rather than for the trip as a whole. I am grateful to The Society for their understanding and help in these matters.

Hywel M. I. Stone,

Cambridge University