Mr. R. C. Taylor's Fossils. 239 



Modes of obtaining the Skeletons of small Animals. — Ants, if ani- 

 mals are put into their hill, will leave their skeletons in a fine state 

 of preparation. To obtain the skeletons of small fishes, tadpoles 

 are very serviceable. Take a jar of pondwater, with a few of 

 these future frogs, both large and small, and suspend the fish in 

 the water by the head and tail, with threads, fastened at a point 

 above. The smaller Tadpoles will eifectually clean the bones, 

 in places inaccessible to the larger ones. 



MR. R. C. TAYLOR'S FOSSILS. 



We recommend in the strongest manner to tlie public, the valuable cabi- 

 net now oifered for sale. Dr. Harlan, of Philadelphia, is autliorised to dis- 

 pose of it for the proprietor. — Ed. 



A concise abstract of the contents of a Cabinet nf British Organic Re- 

 mains, more particularly of Tertiary Fossil Shells; designed to illustrate the 

 principal English Geological Formations, and selected from their respective 

 localities, during a period of twenty-five years, by Richard C. Taylor, Fellow 

 of the Geological Society of London, and Associate Fellow of the Society of 

 Civil Engineers of London. 



The greater portion of these specimens are fixed, upon the improved plan, 

 on blocks, covered with tinted paper. Labels, attached to the foot of each 

 block, exhibit the generic and specific name of each shell, arranged according 

 to Sowerby's Mineral Conchology, and referring to the tables or figures in 

 that work: further, these labels describe the locality, the formation, and in 

 many instances, the separate portions or known subdivisions of each forma- 

 tion characterised by peculiar fossils. 



In Geological arrangement, the collection commences with English Dilu- 

 vium, so called, and proceeds downwards, by sections, from the most recent 

 deposit to the oldest, which contains organic remains. It is by no means 

 meant to convey that the suit is entire. Far otherwise. Nor is there yet 

 formed a complete series, although several have reached more than ten times 

 the magnitude of the one in question. 



Strictly speaking, it illustrates the principal English formations, examined 

 by, and best known to the collector : yet is sufficiently ample to form a valu- 

 able standard for comparmg, and, perhaps, identifying contemporaneous de- 

 posits, in points so remote from each other as England and America; and is 

 probably the most authentic and complete series that has yet been introduced 

 into the United States. 



In conchological classification the Univalves, the Bivalves, and Compound 

 Shells are separated in distinct drawers, and reference to any individual or 

 species is further facilitated under this arrangement, by an alphabetical no- 

 menclature. 



On the whole, it may be asserted, that the extreme beauty and accuracy 

 displayed in this arrangement, constitute the principal value of the Cabinet. 



This collection has benefited by the repeated examinations of English Pro- 

 fessors and naturalists of celebrity, who kindly afforded their aid in case of 

 uncertainty. It comprises also a small illustrative series of recent shells and 

 zoophites, collected for comparison, together with a few of the most remark- 

 able French and Italian Tertiary Fossils. These foreign and recent shells 

 were named under the kind inspection of Mr. J. D. C.'Sowerby. 



The entire collection comprises about five thousand specimens, of which 



