Getting started

Is this for you at all

Updated October 2026

On this page8

What this covers First question: may you hold it?The taxonomy already knows Second question: how does the fluid travel?Which our own shelf cannot satisfy by itself Dry specimens are a different problem And a sealed glass jar is still the right container References

Two questions come first, and neither of them is about the jar.

What this covers

Insect and other wet specimens in fluid, small skulls, pressed botanicals and herbarium sheets, mounted butterflies, feathers, and replica bird eggs. A mixed set, held together by glass and by a sealed closure.

First question: may you hold it?

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it unlawful to possess, sell, barter, purchase or ship any migratory bird, any part, nest or egg of one, or any product composed in whole or part of them. A found feather from a native migratory bird is a part.

The taxonomy already knows

One of this group’s eight leaves is "bird egg replica". A replica is a lawful object to make, hold and sell; the egg it copies generally is not, and that distinction is the whole reason this property leads with law rather than with glass.

Second question: how does the fluid travel?

Ethanol is a Class 3 flammable liquid. The exception that fits a specimen collection, 49 CFR 173.4, limits each inner receptacle to 30 mL of liquid and then specifies the closure restraint, the absorbent, the outer packaging and a prototype test.

Which our own shelf cannot satisfy by itself

The smallest container we stock for this is 55 mL, nearly twice the 30 mL small-quantity limit. That is a measured fact about our catalog, not a reason to look for a different jar, and it is better said than left for you to discover.

Dry specimens are a different problem

A pressed botanical, a mounted butterfly or a feather has no preservative to ship and no flammable liquid in it. There the jar is a display case and humidity is the enemy, which is why the sections here separate wet from dry.

And a sealed glass jar is still the right container

For both halves. 29 containers, all glass, 55 to 946 mL, with 222 closures verified against their necks. It is the smallest shelf in this library and it is well matched to what it holds.

References

16 U.S.C. 703, Taking, killing, or possessing migratory birds unlawful. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful to possess, offer for sale, sell, barter, purchase, ship, export or import any migratory bird, any part, nest or egg of such a bird, or any product composed in whole or part of them. Subsection (b) limits the subchapter to species native to the United States or its territories. law.cornell.edu

49 CFR 173.4, Small quantities for highway and rail. Class 3 and other listed materials are not subject to other requirements where the inner receptacle holds no more than 30 mL of liquid, is not liquid-full at 55 C, is glass, earthenware, metal or plastic of at least 0.2 mm, has any removable closure held securely with wire, tape or other positive means, and is packed with non-reactive absorbent able to take the entire contents inside a strong outer packaging, the whole demonstrated by prototype testing. law.cornell.edu

Written from federal statute and regulation, not from a collection room. Wildlife law is federal, state and sometimes tribal at once, and the Lacey Act makes a state or foreign violation a federal matter. Nothing here is advice on a particular specimen, and the permit questions belong to the Fish and Wildlife Service.