64 



In labeling the trees some precautions nmst ho observed. Zinc labels, 

 wluch would for most purposes be the best, arc (|uito nut of the question, 

 as this, like all other metals, is greatly pri/.od hy the natives; and if it 

 \v«M(' used, the greater number of the labels would soon be destroyed by 

 tht'iii. Accord inijly, pieces of board, about 30 cm. square, are used. 

 They are painted white, with the number and letter of the tree in black. 

 A label of fair size is essential in order that it may be readily detected 

 when one is searching for the tree the second time. Tlicsc* labels are 

 nailed firmly to the trees with heavy spikes, for if smaller nails wtii' used, 

 being easily extracted, they would prove too attractive to the natives. 

 Even when the large spikes are used the natives sometimes succeed in ex- 

 tracting them. However, as the tree is carefully located, both in the cata- 

 logue of the area and on the sketch map, little trouble is experienced in 

 findiuii it the second time, even if the label has been removed. As a safe- 

 guard, however, a tree, as a rule, receives two distinct labels; one large 

 and prominent, the other more inconspicuous. 



With as many as twenty-seven type areas from which extensive botan- 

 ical collections have been made, it is at once evident that some special 

 method of labeling not only the trees but also the herbarium specimens 

 and notes must be adopted in order to avoid confusion. Dr. Koorders 

 has adopted the plan of combining a letter and a number, each altitudinal 

 section having reserved for it alone a sequence of numbers between cer- 

 tain limits, and each type area in that section having a distinctive letter. 

 Such a combination of letter and number shows at once not only the alti- 

 tudinal and geographical section in which a plant was collected, but also 

 the type area and the number of the tree in that area, and no other speci- 

 men in all the other twenty-six type areas has this same combination. To 

 illustrate this point it is well to go into detail regarding this system of 

 recording. As noted above, the great preponderance of tree species is 

 found in the first altitudinal section, that is, below 1,000 meters. Accord- 

 ingly there are reserved for the selected type areas in this section the num- 

 bers from 1 to 3000, and these numbers are used in the first altitudinal 

 section in all the geographical regions, but each geographical region has 

 a distinctive series of letters. 



Any nunihcr between the limits of 1 and 'MHH) shows at once that the 

 speciiiicn was collected from a numbered tree m the first altitudinal sec- 

 tion, and tl\( letter used in combination with the number cited shows the 

 exact type area and the geographical region in which the area is sitnatcMl. 

 It is, of conrso, not possible to find 3,000 different species in any one type 

 area, but ilii> large number is reserved because it is often necessary to label 

 several s])t'(inH'ns of the same species; cf and 9 plants of the same species; 

 old and young trees of the same species, etc. Possibly three or four, or 

 even five or six, type areas may be reserved in the first altitudinal section 



