Francisco for a description of a case, and 

 the following is a description of my 

 present cabinet, made partly from his 

 plans and partly from my own: 



First; the case should be made of 

 cedar as it is somewhat of a moth pre- 

 ventative, but this is n )t of so much im- 

 portance if you do not intend to keep 

 skins in the case. It should have draw- 

 ers of whatever size you can get them — 

 the larger the better — mine are about 

 thirty inches square. I would not 

 advise having any of them less than two 

 and one-half inches deep; and if for eggs 

 alone, three and one-half inside measure 

 will be enough; however, anyone can 

 regulate the depth to suit themselves. 



This case is a trifle costly but will hold 

 an immense number of eggs. I have 

 sixteen drawers in mine. 



It is important that light be kept 

 aw r ay from eggs as they will fade. 



Line the bottom of the drawers with 

 white Canton flannel. 



Keep each setof eggs in a tray made es- 

 pecially for it. These trays are easily and 

 quickly made from black cardboard- 

 black all the way through; do not use 

 white, for -while it may be a fancy, I think 

 the arsenic in the white is injurious to 

 the shell. The eggs certainly look better 

 in a black tray and when this is placed on 

 a peice of white flannel you take pride 

 in looking into a drawer. 



You can easily classify all the species 

 in a cabinet of this kind. You can also 

 very easily preserve the nests in a case 

 of this kind. 



I keep my data in this way: I get a 

 number of labels, such as are used for 

 insects, about one inch long, and one 

 and one-half inch across; and on these, 

 I put the number of the species, the set 

 mark, and my private number. A good 

 way to do, for those who don't wish to 

 keep any extensive set of books, is to 

 get several books of data blanks as sold 

 by all good dealers, and number the 

 books in this way: There are one hun- 

 dred pages in each book, number the 



first from one to one hundered; the sec- 

 ond book, from 101 to 200, and so on. 

 This is a handy way to keep data, and 

 when you dispose of a set, you know 

 where it has gone to, put a number on 

 each one of these labels to correspond to 

 the number of the data in your book, 

 and put this label in the tray with the 

 set of eggs, this will save handling the 

 eggs, as you can pick up this tag and see 

 the number of the set in your book, and 

 you will not need to write a whole data 

 on the egg itself, as some collectors have 

 a disagreeable habit of doing, and as I 

 have done myself. 



I do not think the above method can 

 be improved. 



At some future time I will publish in 

 the Ospkey instructions for making 

 trays, as it is much cheaper and better to 

 make them than to buy. 



A. C. Murchison, 

 Chicago, 111. 



EXCHANGE.— Mazon Creek Fossils 

 in Iron Stone, Nodules, Ferns and plants 

 for Marine Shells, Star-fish and Curios. 

 Wishes fine Indian Relics, Minerals and 

 Fossils in quantity. Wishes to corres- 

 pond with parties who have large collec- 

 tions for sale or exchange. I wish large, 

 showy specimens for my exhibit at the 

 coming World's Fair at Chicago. 

 H. D. HILL, Morris, 111. 



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