Voucher Specimen Collection Preparation Identification and Storage ...

• Aquatic and Marine Invertebrates: 10 - 15 lots
2.6.3 Museum Storage
Only voucher specimens collected to the standards outlined herein will be stored at the Royal
BC Museum. Such storage will be for a minimum period of five years or such time as is
negotiated between the collecting agency and the Royal BC Museum. Beyond this “voucher
storage period” some specimens may become part of the Royal BC Museum’s permanent
collection.
2.7 Material Specifications and Collection Costs
2.7.1 Material Specifications
As emphasized in the previous sections, specimens must be collected, prepared, labelled and
contained properly to be accepted by the museum. For each taxon group you will find a
section that describes the specific equipment required for preparing and storing specimens. It
is very important that specified materials are used as this will ensure that specimens arrive at
the museum in the appropriate form and will prevent re-doing specimens which wastes both
time and money.
Storage - General Information
Wet specimens are stored in brasilicate glass jars, covered by a polyethylene lid with a
polyethylene gasket. Oversize specimens are stored in plastic vats. The preserving fluid is
isopropanol except in entomology where the preserving fluid is ethanol. A 45 gallon drum of
99% isopropanol is approximately $280.00 and a 5 gallon pail of 95% ethanol is
approximately $100.00.
Dry specimens are pinned and stored in unit trays in cabinets (entomology), stored in Durphy
boxes in Lane cases or are stored on shelving in Lane cases.
2.7.2 Costs
At first glance, it may seem a simple matter to deal with specimens from an inventory
project. Inventory personnel might collect samples, put the specimens in jars and ship them
to a museum to handle. However, when examined in detail, it becomes apparent that the
costs of collecting the organisms are just a fraction of the total financial picture. For
example, Scudder (in press) calculated that for a sampling period of one night per week over
seven months for terrestrial arthropods, processing and identifying only the moths caught
(excluding other insects), would take one person approximately four months to accomplish!
Collection costs include not only the actual cost of collecting a specimen in the field, but the
costs associated with preparing, storing and maintaining the collection. All these elements
must be considered when making a budget.
12 June 9, 1999