Faced with moving out of my house and into an apartment imminently, and having a collection of mostly small and micro shells with unattached labels, I finally made myself eliminate the constant threat of losing my data.

For years I was petrified that a single sharp shove to one of my three dental cabinets would result in forever obliterating much information.

I just got through with putting all my small specimens in 1 1/2 inch zip-locks with their respective catalogue numbers and names. (I leave the other data for my written and database catalogues).

The main limitation for me now is that the shells are less visible and accessible than they were. But when I save up my pennies, maybe I'll get a digital camera with capability to resolve down to 1 or 2 mm. Recently, a co-worker of mine who is also a photographer on the side attached his expensive Fuji digital to my ancient Nikon bellows set-up (their compatible)--with some spectacular results. Eventually, I'll have images as well as the real shells to work with.

Meanwhile I think I've circumvented the need to use India ink on my shells.

David Kirsh
Durham, NC