[53] INSTEUCTIONS FOR COLLECTING MOLLUSKS DALL. 



Larger specimens are best wrapped in paper, for whicli the thin brown 

 paper used for wrapping oranges, or the so-called toilet paper, is excel- 

 lent. For still larger specimens newspaper will do very well. The 

 southern moss ( Tillandsia) makes excellent packing material. Sawdust 

 should be especially avoided in packing, as it is really worse than 

 nothing. 



In putting up glass jars or bottles containing specimens in alcohol, 

 nothing is better than ordinary damp moss from the woods. The box 

 should be lined with it, the jars set in so as not to touch each other at 

 any point, and moss should then be carefully rammed down between 

 them until the whole space is compactly filled, when a layer may be 

 placed above the bottles and the box cover nailed down. As the moss 

 dries in the box it makes a secure case for each jar, and the writer has 

 shipped hundreds of jars many thousands of miles in this manner with- 

 out a single breakage. 



Boxes of moderate size travel better than very large or small ones. 



For alcohoHc specimens nothing is better than the screw- topped jars 

 used for preserving fruit. Each jar should be carefully scrutinized to 

 make sure that it it is in perfect order and screwed tight enough to 

 avoid leakage. If the specimens do not fill the jar a handfal of crum- 

 pled paper will serve as a buffer to prevent injurious friction. Jars 

 should always be filled with alcohol to within an inch of the cover. 



For the cabinet, stout vials with rubber corks are best, or jars with 

 ground-glass stoppers for larger specimens. The latter are expensive 

 and really less efficient than the screw- top jars, but of course present a 

 better appearance. 



In order that the identification of specimens shall not be lost, it is im- 

 perative that a label shall be inclosed in the jar itself. For jars which 

 have to be transported long distances, a label of block tin is often used, 

 upon which a number has been stamped corresponding to the collector's 

 catalogue. Pure block tin in thin sheets can he had of dealers in assay- 

 er's supplies, and a set of numbered steel dies for stamping the num- 

 bers, of any dealer in hardware. Numbers printed on parchment are 

 also used. Written numbers are apt to get worn off, but, if they must 

 be used, it is best to write them on the best quality of stiff linen paper 

 with a very soft lead pencil, the label being then wrapped up in apiece 

 of clean manila paper to preserve it from wear. Such labels with good 

 luck will last very well, but should, if possible, be supplemented by the 

 tag of block-tin foil. Ordinary "tin," i. e., tinned sheet iron, is entirely 

 unfit for the purpose. Nearly all specimens contain some fatty matter 

 and in cases where the strength of the alcohol is insufficient a chemical 

 change takes place in that part of this fat which is combined with the 

 alcohol, producing several ill-smelling ethers and fatty acids. There- 

 fore nothing in the way of metal, ink, or other substances which may 

 be affected by acid or ether should be inserted in any jar of specimens- 

 Copper tanks with screw tops are sometimes used by collectors, but are 



