REVIEW OF PHILIPPINE PALEONTOLOGY 
By Roy E. DICKERSON 
Honorary Curator, Department of Paleontology, California Academy of 
Sciences, San Francisco 
SIXTEEN PLATES 
INTRODUCTION 
The study of ancient life in the Philippines has great economic 
value in connection with the stratigraphy of sedimentary beds 
containing coal and oil and with the associated strata. The rel- 
ative geological age of rocks in a given district may be deter- 
mined by a study of the order of deposition, if there have been 
no great disturbances such as faulting and intense folding; but 
such an ideal condition is seldom obtained. In the Philippines, 
in addition to the above-mentioned factors, a heavy cover of 
forest and high grass obscures the rocks, and the land masses 
are broken by deep seas. Partially to reassemble the shattered 
mosaic of the past, one must study the “Books of Rock” and 
their fossil contents. In this way only can the geological history 
be read and the patterns of Nature be deciphered. At best, 
the evidence will be incomplete but often after much labor a 
fairly complete outline of the design can be obtained. 
For the benefit of the layman, it is necessary to state a few of 
the principles of paleontology, the study of ancient life. That 
the life of the present was evolved from the past is axiomatic in 
this study. Life through long geological ages has been contin- 
uous, and on this account such a discontinuous record as is 
evidenced in the succession of different rocks in a given area can 
only be interpreted by reference to this unbroken life line and 
to the fossil record in far distant regions. On account of this 
fossil record paleontological advances depend upon world-wide 
investigations by many workers, and a certain familiarity with 
this great world field is necessary for arriving at broad con- 
clusions. Such extensive studies indicate that, once a species is 
extinct, this particular life form is never again repeated. This 
principle is particularly useful in picking out special fossils 
which indicate certain beds. These horizon determiners are 
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