94 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XL! 



Exhibition, Storage, etc. — The location of a specimen is indi- 

 cated by the particular column under which it is placed. If on 

 exhibition, the number or letter of the case ^ will be given. Al- 

 coves or galleries may be designated by letters. If on storage, 

 the location will be similarly designated.^ 



Total number of specimens. — These columns will indicate the 

 total number of specimens of a given species ^ belonging to the 

 museum. If customary for the institution to make many exchanges 

 a balance column may be added, which will show the material 

 on hand as well as that exchanged. 



The necessary steps incident to the cataloguing of a collection 

 which has been received may now be outlined as follows. 



a. Catalogued as an Accession. 



b. Placed in charge of a department. 



c. Catalogued in a Department (^italooue and given a 

 department number. 



d. Identified and labelled. I1)is data then added to the 

 department card. 



e. Placed on exhibition or in storage. 



f. Reference Catalogue filled out from data on department 



The first three items should be attended to at once. A consitl- 

 erable interval will often elapse however before final desposition 

 of the specimen is made. 



It would seem that only two general objections can be urged 

 against any system similar to the one propoM-d, namely; ( 1 ) The 

 plea that too much time will be occupied in ilie preparation of such 

 a catalogue, and (2) a certain inherent condition which precludes 

 the adoption of new ideas, ""['he only answer that need be given 



