112 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



we have acquired a great deal of information 

 regarding the inhabitants of the ancient world. 

 This is particularly true of our own western 

 country, where a vast amount of collecting has 

 been done, although very much remains to be 

 done in the matter of perfecting this knowl- 

 edge, and hosts of new animals remain to be 

 discovered. For this information we are almost 

 as much indebted to the collector who has 

 gathered the needed material, and the prepar- 

 ator whose patience and skill have made it 

 available for study, as to the palaeontologist 

 who has interpreted the meaning of the 

 bones. 



To collect successfully demands not only 

 a knowledge of the rocks in which fossils 

 occur and of the localities where they are best 

 exposed to view, but an eye quick to detect a 

 piece of bone protruding from a rock or lying 

 amongst the shale, and, above all, the ability 

 to work a deposit to advantage after it has 

 been found. The collector of living animals 

 hies to regions where there is plenty for bird 

 and beast to eat and drink, but the collector of 

 extinct animals cares little for what is on the 



