16 ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY MANUAL 



Slugs may be drowned by the method described for land 

 snails and may then be preserved in alcohol or formalin. 



Labels and Cabinets 



The labeling and preserving of a collection are of the first 

 importance. The small, cleaned and dried shells may be kept in 

 homeopathic vials, and the large specimens in cardboard trays 

 or boxes. Each label should be prepared with great care, as upon 

 accurate records depends much of the value of the collection. 



.■^f im ^ToLLUscAN Survey of Ilf.inois 



PiJP.QIIXC:a....MAR.aiJ<ATXi& (&a.yl 



Illinois : .-VUconi..CoL^...2...m/--S...or..I>eAatar, 

 -W:alxaA)x.....RH>.-..r.ijrf:Ki.....of. ..w-*v^. 



Deposited by Illinois Natural History Survey 

 No. Z-^J^;2/Det. by-&aker Date, Summer. 1926 



Museum of Natufal History, University of Illinois 



Fig. 7. — Sample label for trays of shell cabinet. 



Information on each label should include the scientific name of 

 the specimen, the exact locality from which it came, the date of 

 collecting and any note concerning the habitat that may be of 

 interest and value. A sample label is shown in fig. 7. 



The trays in which the collection is kept may be of several 

 sizes but, for convenience in handling, a certain degree of uni- 

 formity should be maintained. If a size of 2 inches by 1 inch 

 is decided upon for the smallest tray or basic unit, dimensions of 

 the larger trays should be multiples of these measurements: 

 2 by 2, 2 by 4 or 4 by 4 inches. In the Museum of Natural 

 History of the University of Illinois, the basic unit is 3 inches 

 by 1 inch. Other trays are 3 by 1 3^, 3 by 2, 3 by 3 and 3 by 4 

 inches. Extra large size trays are 3 by 6 and 6 by 6 inches, but 

 these are too large for most land snails. All the Museum trays 

 are half an inch in depth. If the collector cannot afford to have 

 trays made at a box factory, he may use spool boxes or other 

 small cardboard containers. 



Glass receptacles called shell vials are sold by laboratory 

 supply houses and, as these have no flange at the mouth, they 

 are more desirable for small specimens than are the homeo- 

 pathic vials. The shell vials may be of a size just enough shorter 



