Carrier "Shells have long fascinated scientists and laymen alike with their habit of fixing foreign objects - shells, pebbles or coral etc. to the surface of their own shells. This book gives a welcome popular coverage to the living members of the family."

This impressive and important distribution mollusc atlas is the second volume in the Fauna Helvetica series, the first being a Diptera checklist. It is the result of a project launched on in 1981 although the bulk of record accumulation took place between 1988 and 1997. The basis of the work is 279 distribution maps using the 5x5 Km square as a mapping unit (four times as fine a grid as the Great Britain and Ireland scheme) to cover indigenous freshwater and land mollusc species, subspecies and segregates.

The eagerly awaited second edition of "the atlas" has finally appeared, 23 years after its forerunner, to the great delight of those who have contributed to the mapping scheme over the years. So how does the new compare with the old? The new edition has a smaller format, a hard cover and reliable binding. The introductory text is far more extensive and reviews the 'Early history of recording'.