A Short History of the Liguus Tree Snails Collection

NPS photo

In south Florida, the Florida tree snail, Liguus fasciatus, is renowned for its distinct color forms. Because of their unique beauty, shells became a coveted souvenir and collectors competed to identify new patterns.

In the 1950s groups of snail hunters or “snailers” would go out and gather as many snails as they could from a colony. Each colony, identified by its unique color form, is specific to a tree or hardwood hammock. Collectors prided themselves on being the only person to have snails from that colony and were secretive about their locations. Over time, competitive snail collecting practices and the impact of natural threats to hardwood hammocks led to the decrease in snail populations and extinction of some color forms.

Archie Jones displaying his Florida tree snail collection.

NPS photo

The declining population concerned park staff and snail collectors. In 1957, snail collector, Ralph H. Humes, proposed to Superintendent Daniel B. Beard that they collaborate to reintroduce certain color forms of Florida tree snails that were near extinction into the park.

Later that year District Ranger Erwin C. Winte worked with collectors Ralph H. Humes, Archie L. Jones, and Captain C. C. Von Paulsen to reestablish threatened populations. Gradually the project expanded to involve placing snails from different hammocks together to breed and create new color forms. This breeding method would not be permitted today since it was done for aesthetic reasons rather than for scientific purposes. Today, projects that involve the reintroduction of species into the park are done only after careful consideration of its potential impacts to the ecosystem.

NPS photo (EVER 306740)

This project ran from 1957 to 1980 and saw the introduction of 51 new color forms at Long Pine Key. The Everglades National Park museum collections include donations from both Ralph Humes, Archie Jones, Fred Dayhoff, and several other prominent collectors. Today we have over 25,000 individual Florida tree snail shells in the collection including one fossilized shell. Included in the collection are shells made into souvenirs like keychains and lapel pins. Artists have captured the beauty of the shells in multiple media.


Please remember that it is illegal to take and collect anything from your national parks.