[General Directions.]—It matters little how much care and pains have been taken in the preparation and mounting of specimens, they will have little value unless accompanied by proper labels giving information as to locality and date of collection, name of collector, and a label or number referring to notebooks, if any biological or other facts concerning them have been ascertained. There should be pinned to the specimen labels referring to, or giving all the information obtainable or of interest concerning it. A somewhat different style of label will be found necessary in the case of the two forms of collections described in the foregoing pages, namely, the biological or economic collection, and the systematic collection. For the former, numbers may be attached to the specimens which will refer to the notes relating to the specimen or species. For the latter, in most cases, all necessary information may be recorded and made available by written or printed labels attached directly to the specimens. In most cases, however, I find a combination of these two systems convenient and desirable. The numbering system is very simple, and is the one which I have followed in all the species for which I have biological or other notes. It consists in giving each species, as it comes under observation, a serial number which refers to a record in a notebook. With this number may be combined, if convenient, the date of rearing or collection of the specimen, and also the locality and food-plant if known. The vast number of species represented in a systematic collection renders the numbering system entirely out of place and inadequate, and the labeling system alone is generally available. If it becomes necessary in the systematic collection to refer to food-plants or life-history or any other fact of interest, the numbering system should be used, and I recommend that the numbers be written in red ink on the labels, to distinguish at a glance the numbers referring to biological notes from other numbers that will occur in the collection.
[Labels for pinned Specimens.]—The following labels should be employed in the collection: (1) Locality label, which should be as explicit as possible. (2) Date of capture, which is very useful and sometimes quite important in various ways. It indicates at what time additional specimens of some rare species may be secured, and greatly assists in elaborating the life history of the species, and in other cases assists in the correct determination of closely allied insects, which differ chiefly in habit or date of appearance. (3) A label to indicate the sex. This label has recently acquired greater importance than formerly, on account of the value of the sexual differences in the distinction of species. The well-known signs for male, female, and worker, printed in convenient form, are well adapted for collections. (4) The name of the collector. This label is of less value, but sometimes becomes important in determining the history of the specimen or the exact place of capture. The name of the species is not necessarily attached to all the specimens in a collection, and ordinarily will be placed with the first specimen in a series in the cabinet. This and other labeling of insects in cabinet is discussed in another place. Other labels are useful to indicate type specimens, namely, those of which descriptions have been drawn up and published, and which should be designated by a special label written by the author himself. Determinations by an authority in a special group should be indicated, and the labels placed on specimens by such an authority should not be removed.
It will not be found necessary to use a separate label for each of the data indicated above, and a single label may be made to combine many of them, as, except for the specific names of the insects themselves (which should always be on the lowermost label), most other words will bear abbreviation, especially localities and dates. “A combination label, which has given general satisfaction to all to whom it has been communicated, is a two-line label printed in diamond type, on heavy writing paper. The upper line consists of the name of the locality, e. g., ‘Washngtn’ (a name consisting of more than eight letters to be abbreviated), and the lower line has at the right-hand corner ‘DC’ (interpunctuation and spacing to be avoided so as to save space). This leaves on the second line sufficient room for inserting the date, which can be quickly and neatly written with ink if the labels are printed in columns of ten or more repetitions. The label thus combines locality with date of capture. Or the upper line reads ‘Arizona’ and the lower line ‘Morrison,’ the label thus combining locality with the name of the collector.”[8]
In general I indorse the system of labeling suggested in the above condensation from Mr. Schwarz, but there is no particular disadvantage, and in fact many advantages, in special cases, in a larger label or in folded labels. Particularly in visiting large foreign collections I have found it convenient to use large labels of thin paper which will contain a good deal of information closely written in pencil and bear folding several times, so as not to occupy more than the ordinary label space when pinned to the specimens. This involves detaching the label when the specimen or species comes to be studied, but this additional labor is insignificant compared with the large amount of valuable information which in time is thus brought together in condensed availability for the student; for brief notes of opinions of experts, of comparison with types, of special studies, of reference to descriptions, etc., may thus be all brought together. Where there is not room to indicate the authority for a determination on the upper side of a label, I also find it convenient to do so on the lower side.
Fig. 116.—Cabinet for apparatus used in mounting and labeling. (Original).
[Labeling alcoholic Specimens.]—Alcoholic specimens, including alcoholic biologic material and collections of Arachnida and Myriapoda, are well adapted to the labeling system, as the vials are always of sufficient size to allow the insertion of one or more labels large enough to contain a pretty full record of the specimen. The label may consist of a number referring to notes, or of a number together with the other data indicated for the systematic collection. The label in my experience is preferably written in pencil, which, in alcohol, is practically permanent. Waterproof inks are sometimes used, and of these the oak-gall ink is undoubtedly the best. Dr. George Marx, in labeling his Arachnida, uses onion-skin paper and waterproof ink, such as Higgins's drawing ink. There is some danger, in placing a label in a vial, of its settling against the specimen and injuring it. This, however, can generally be avoided if a little care is used. The label may be long and narrow and folded lengthwise so as to occupy one side only of the vial, or short and inserted in such manner that it will pass around the inside of the vial, where it will be held by the natural adhesion to the glass in the upper portion of the vial, as shown at [Fig. 114].
[Cabinet for Apparatus.]—The work of preparation of insects for the cabinet may be greatly facilitated if a convenient case is provided with drawers and compartments for the keeping of pins of different sizes, labels, braces, implements, tweezers, dissecting apparatus, and the like, with microscopical supplies—slides, cover glasses, mounting media, etc. I present a photograph of a cabinet of this sort used in my earlier work and found very convenient and serviceable ([Fig. 116]).
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