Put Labels to biological objects preserved in alcohol

[sylvia hope]

To William Pratt:  Your message to Thomas evidently was sent to me by
          mistake.  - Sylvia Hope
          ************

Thomas,

The database program we use, Access 97, can do this easily.  One follows
the directions for producing mailing labels, modifying the necessary
query, that the labels draw their data from, to ask for beginning and
ending specimen numbers.  Standard text such as institutional name, and
the abbreviation "Co" following a county name (or "Dist." for Distrito
preceding a name) can be entered.  Individual lines can be put into a
different font, boldfaced, italicized, and such.  I select 6 pt Arial
(=Helvetica).  If a set of labels needs to be smaller, one can reduce
the printout to, say, 85% if using a laser printer.

The paper used should be 100% rag with good wet strength.  Some printers
don't seem to fuse the powder quite well enough.  For these one might
use a hot dry iron to fuse the print adequately, or print out on plain
paper and photocopy onto rag stock paper.  Our Xerox-brand machine, at
least, seems to fuse the powder quite firmly.  Some people also spray
the print side of the label with artist's fixative or a clear epoxy
spray.

Will

Thomas Schlemmermeyer wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Termites (Isoptera) and some other soft insects are usually stored in
> 70%, 80% or nearly 100% alcohol in biological collections.
>
> There are several manners to give written labels to the samples:
> One may write with ink or a pencil on different kind of papers.
> There exists also the recommendation to use a laser printer to generate
> the labels.
> All these methods may lead to some problems on the long run.
>
> I wonder wether there are some electronic methods to "back up" the
> written labels.
> Electronic labelling may allow as well direct processing of the label
> information with data administrating software systems.
> -
>
> Thank you very much for suggestions or hints
>                                 Thomas
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Dr. William L. Pratt, Curator of Invertebrates
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Box 4012
Las Vegas, NV 89154-4012
(702)895-1403, fax (702)895-3094 e-mail prattw at nevada.edu