Instruccion for collecting natural productions for the Real Gabinete de Historia Natural

A royal instruction sent to viceroys, governors, corregidores, alcaldes mayores and intendants telling them how to choose, prepare and ship the natural productions of their districts to Madrid. It drops European nomenclature on purpose, lists the animals of the Americas under the names used there, and then teaches the practical trade - three pounds of each coloured earth, polished stone tablets, plants pressed one to a leaf, spirits changed after a fortnight, a lead tag tied to each animal.