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Catalog the Specimens You Collect

A catalog tracks the things you collect. It assigns a number (starting with 1) of all the specimens such as pine cones, rocks, etc. that you pick up during your field observations.

This is a separate section of your field journal or a separate book all together.

At the end of the year, the print format record is closed out. The last page of a year end and a new page is started for the new year.

Professional naturalists donate their collections to museums to preserve specimens. It is often a condition of their employment or the license to collect.

Title each page "Catalog".

Label or tag each specimen you collect.

For each specimen tag or label. Include this same information in the catalog.

catalog number
date collected
location of collection
collector's name
identification

A note about identification. For professional naturalist collections a taxonomist, who specializes in species identification will identify a specimen. The field collector may not. A professional field collector may sometimes write the species scientific name on back of the label - in pencil. In case they make a mistake.

But, that shouldn't stop us amateur naturalists from taking a stab at it.

Grinnell Field Journal System for Naturalists

Grinnell System Overview
General Format
Observation Checklist
Field Notebook
Field Journal
Species Account

From Catalog Return to Grinnell Journal System

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