3 
GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE DATA-BANKING SYSTEM FOR SPECIMEN 
INFORMATION DEVELOPED AT THE BOLUS HERBARIUM 
The system referred to below was prepared with the aim 
of allowing the fullest possible use of the many kinds of in¬ 
formation on specimen labels in taxonomic collections. Data 
are entered from specially formatted positions on punched cards. 
Simple verbal controls punched onto cards provide for data 
checking and input, selective retrievals, sequencing, listings, 
frequency analysis and map plotting. 
1. APPLICATIONS t The syst 
collections from terrestr 
readily be adapted for fo 
serve as an aid in making 
checklists, aiding in mak 
reference material for co 
uses may range from prepa 
collectors' itineraries. 
em can be used for plant and animal 
ial or marine environments. It could 
ssil or petrological data. It may 
taxonomic revisions, preparing local 
ing identifications and setting up 
llecting expeditions. More uncommon 
ring lists of Types to tracing early 
2. DATA : The record for each specimen is formatted to include 
the following data: taxonomic position, species' name and 
author; type status, institution, collector and specimen num¬ 
ber; ecology, frequency, altitude and date collected; the name 
of the locality and its geographical grid reference. In a 
modest-sized computer (16K core, 512K disk) there may be some 
4,500 specimen records in a given bank. Individual banks may 
have several times more records than this, in a larger machine. 
Besides the main banks, files are maintained in the computer 
for authors', collectors' and institutions' names, citations 
for grid regions, ecology, frequency. Type status and the re¬ 
trieval criteria. 
3. DATA ENTRY : All entry operations are accompanied by print¬ 
outs that can be checked and verified. The specimen records 
can be processed by an editing program. The printout from 
this can be used for proof-reading against the specimen labels. 
The cards are corrected before the data are admitted to storage 
in the bank. Facilities are provided for later changes to 
the stored records. To reduce punching effort, the taxonomic 
data for a species need only be entered on a single card. 
The taxonomic data are united with the specimen information 
on other cards (one per specimen), in the computer, to give 
the respective records. As in all other parts of the system, 
the user is aided by full sets of error messages for unaccept¬ 
able data or instructions. 
4. RETRIEVAL AND OUTPUT : The criteria for the selective retrie¬ 
val of data from the bank may be broadly framed, or quite speci¬ 
fic. A criterion, describing the subject (e.g. altitude) can 
be followed by a single datum, a list, or a range of data (e.g. 
1000 m; 800 ra, 900 m, 1000 m; 800—1000 m). Up to 40 criteria, 
each with a single datum, list or range, may be specified. 
