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Collecting American Seashells 65
equally as attractive as the display type, but it also permits the collector to
locate any specimen quickly and add new material with a minimum of rear-
ranging. The simplicity, uniformity and mobility of equipment, such as
drawers, trays, labels and vials, and the use of the biological or systematic
order of arrangement are the essence of a good collection.
The choice of cabinet and style of drawers will be limited, of course,
by the collector's pocketbook. The accompanying designs are the result of
many years of observing private and institutional cabinets, and they are
offered here as an ideal toward which you can strive.
If the cabinet is made in a roughly oblong shape and is about table-
height, additional cabinets may some day be set alongside for desk space or
set on top of each other without causing the top drawers to be too high to
reach. Pine, basswood or any of th^ whitewoods may be used. It has been
reported that certain oaks have a detrimental effect on shells which have
been stored away for years. It is best to have a cabinet door which swings
open all the way (i8o degrees), although so hinged that the drawers may
still be pulled out when it is open only 90 degrees. Some students prefer the
type of door which lifts off.
The ideal cabinet unit has the following dimensions: outside measure-
ments, height 40" (or 80") ^ width 22'', depth 32''. Runners for drawers, 30''
long. If wooden, %'' X %" and set 2^4" apart. If galvanized sheet iron,
2%'' wide and bent along the midline to form an L. Inside measurements,
wooden drawers 20" X 30" and i%". No runners or handles are necessary
on the drawers.
All cardboard trays to hold specimens should be %'' in depth, and all
their other outside dimensions should be multiples of the smallest type of tray.
This unit may be iK'" X 2", the next largest tray 3'' X 2", then 3'' X 4",
then 4/^2'' X 6", and the largest of all 8'' X 9''. It is inadvisable to have more
than five sizes of trays, since this complicates curating and the making or
ordering of future stocks. Odd-sized trays make neat arrangement impos-
sible. Cardboard trays covered with glossv-white enameled paper may be
purchased in any large city, or a simple style may be made by cutting out
and folding pieces of shirtboard as shown in our illustration. The corners
are held together by adhesive paper or butcher's tape. The various sets, or
lots as they are called, of each species should be placed in the trays and
arranged in the drawer from left to right, beginning at the front. Many
students separate the species or genera by turning over an empty box which
may bear a label indicating the genus or species.
Small e^lass vials without necks are used to hold smaller specimens. Cot-
ton is best for plugging the vials, since corks are expensive, are difficult to
obtain for various-sized vials and eventually deteriorate. When a lot consists
of a hundred or more small specimens which will not easily go into vials, it is