This whole discussion just illustrates that abbreviations can almost always
be confusing. Our collection currently uses an exclamation point after a
name to indicate collector, and "ex" before a name to indicate donor. When I
first starting working here, I would see, for example, "ex. T. McGinty!" on
a label, and think that it meant the person who donated the shell was
important. It actually means that McGinty is both collector and donor. On
our labels from one hundred years ago, the name of the collector is in
parentheses and the name of the donor is not. Ideally all these things
should be spelled out to prevent confusion, but often there is limited space
on the label.
 
By the way, although I think that "leg." is used in a misleading way,
overall, the Florida Museum has done well by its mollusk collection. They
were the first to make their entire collection database available over Internet:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/scripts/dbs/malacol_pub.asp
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Gary Rosenberg, Ph.D.                     [log in to unmask]
Malacology & Invertebrate Paleontology    gopher://erato.acnatsci.org
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