The Museum's collection of fossil molluscs is among the world’s most systematically, stratigraphically and geographically comprehensive. It includes more than 20,000 type and figured specimens. The ...

Mr Wonfor believes the mollusc he and his 12-year-old cousin ... in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in Dorset.

This creates a material called nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, which encases the irritant and protects the mollusc from it. When pearls are cultured commercially an irritant is manually inserted ...