>It's always O.K. to
make mistakes in identification and find out the correct answer later.



Indeed! The collection data (where, when, by whom, environmental
details etc) are the most important thing. Identification is nice but
secondary in importance.

Ziploc bags are in many ways the ideal way to store shells, so that
labels cannot become lost or mixed-up (5 years down the track, when
you drop a tray of Lucapinella on top of other open trays of the same
species, just try to remember which specimens came from the dropped
box, even if you have the numbers of specimens on the labels!). They
do also give some impact protection... I have received boxes of
smallish shells from dealers with basically no packing material
between the shells, just Ziplocs (judgement needed... a large heavy
shell can still crush smaller ones), without damage. Use bags that
are just big enough to get the shells into.

Glass vials are better in that they are much easier to store in such
a way that you can see the contents as they lie in the tray... BUT
they can break (especially when you're trying to get the
tight-fitting "waterproof" plug-type plastic cap out); also they can
cause "glass disease", a topic that comes up every now & then on the
list, damaging or destroying the contained shells. Soda-glass is
supposedly safe, but I have soda-glass tubes which have caused glass
disease. Vials are also expensive when you have to buy them in the
hundreds... and if you are an active collector of small species the
stocks on your shelves can shrink at an alarming rate.

Oh, and don't use oak or particleboard cabinets, as these release
acid vapors which cause "Byne's disease". Other real woods seem to be
safe, though I'm sure that oaks can't be the only trees which
metabolize acid-producing chemicals.
--
Regards
Andrew

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