62 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. IV, No. 3, 



THE CATALOGUING OF MUSEUM COLLECTIONS. 



L. B. Wai^ton. 



The system by which specimens are catalogued in most muse- 

 ums of natural history is open to criticism. Insufficient data 

 concerning the collections are buried in bulky volumes or files to 

 such an extent that one may usually be considered fortunate if 

 after a period of several hours the locality and date of collection 

 of a specimen can be ascertained. Notes concerning the name of 

 the person by whom the specimen was identified, date of identifi- 

 cation, etc., are rarel}' present. The task of a systematist wishing 

 to find the material in a given museum belonging to a particular 

 group (phylum, class, etc.), or obtained from a given locality 

 (country, state, etc.) is usually a most difficult and oftentimes an 

 impossible one. 



The use of the card index system, the value of which was long 

 since recognized in business methods, will go far toward obviating 

 the difficuties mentioned. A standard card of 4x6 inches has 

 proved to be the most servicable. Following a chronological 

 order the data which should be rendered accessible in an ade- 

 quately catalogued collection, can be separated into three groups. 

 These are : 



(a) T/ie Accession Catalogue, arranged numerically, containing 

 a general record of all material received as whole. Con.sequently 

 one accession card usually covers a large number of specimens. 



(b) The Departineiit Catalogue, arranged numerically, giving a 

 complete history of each specimen or group of specimens (of a 

 given species) acquired by each department (Zoology, Botany, 

 Anthropolog3% etc.). 



(c) y/ie Reference Catalogue, arranged alphabetically, having 

 the names of all .specimens (genus and species in Zoology and 

 Botany) in a given department at the top of the card. 



The final disposition of each specimen is indicated, consequently 

 it is an easy matter to at once locate an}- desired material. 



While the Department Catalogue is the principal one, the other 

 two are important and represent a comparatively small amount of 

 labor, inasmuch as a single card contains data for a large number 

 of specimens. Classification of material into groups (e. g.. 

 Protozoa, Porifera, etc., in Zoology) can be indicated b)^ using 

 cards with appropriate tabs in different ])ositions, while geo- 

 graphical distribution can be represented, if desired, by different 

 colored cards. 



Kenyon College. 



