Measuring the shell to a tenth of a millimeter and adding this to the data
slip should identify the shell almost 100% of the time. Even if the data
gets mixed up you can still re-measure and find the right match.
Cheers
Rick
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Frederick W. Schueler [log in to unmask]
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 13:40:36 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cataloging
Jordan Star wrote:
> I write a number on the shell starting with number 1 in India ink on the
shell. I then keep a sequential list of all numbers with the shell name.
The data goes on an index card alphabetically in a card box. Kind of a
clumsy system, what if the computer is off?
* when I was mostly collecting vertebrates, I used to use a sequential
series of integers, but when I moved into Molluscs, where there were
often mixed lots of many species & specimens, I changed to a reference
to the page of my field notes in the format <INITIALS>"/" <YEAR>"/"
<journal page number>"/" <alphabetic index of observation on journal
page>, e.g. "FWS/1998/021/g" for collections and observations from one
station. Then individual species or collections from that station would
be "FWS/1998/021/ga", "FWS/1998/021/gb", etc., and if "FWS/1998/021/ga"
was a mass collection of drifted shells it can be subdivided into
species lots (or on other criteria) as "FWS/1998/021/gaa",
"FWS/1998/021/gab", etc. An alternative form, for records that don't
come from field notes has been <INITIALS>"/"<numeric YEAR+<three-letter
month>+DAY+TIME>"/" <alphabetic index of observation>, as
"AKS/1998Mar1430/da". These numbers have the advantage that you can
assign them in the field, and put the tag in with the specimens, and
then infinitely subdivide them as necessary.
For a collection made only by oneself, field note references should
suffice, but if you're going to import collections made by others, it's
better to use a sequential series of integers, as Jordan Starr suggests.
In this case the big decision is whether you're going to catalogue
individual specimens (as is done with Birds and Mammals) or species lots
(as is done with fish -- to used vertebrate models).
fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Bishops Mills Natural History Centre
Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad, Jennifer Helene Schueler
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <[log in to unmask]> http://pinicola.ca
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