68 HANDBOOK OF FOSSILS. 



an ordinary garden trowel is very useful, whilst in a chalk- pit a 

 small saw is sometimes of great aid in extricating a desirable 

 specimen. The same may be said of an ordinary carpenter's 

 wood-chisel. For picking up small and delicate specimens, a 

 pair of forceps should be carried, whilst without a pocket lens 

 no true naturalist ever stirs abroad. An ordinary stout 

 canvas satchel, such as is commonly used by schoolboys, is the 

 best thing for carrying home your specimens ; this may be 

 made much stronger by the addition of two short strips of 

 leather stitched on the back and running, one from each ring, 

 to which the strap passing over the shoulder is fastened, down 

 to the bottom of the bag ; by leaving a small portion unstitched 

 near the bottom of each of these, wide enough for the shoulder- 

 strap to pass through, the satchel may at a moment's notice be 

 slung knapsackwise on the shoulders a method of carrying it 

 which is, as all who have tried it know, by far the most con- 

 venient when it is heavily laden or not in immediate requisition. 

 A stout leather belt may be worn in which to carry all your 

 hammers, supporting it on the side where the heavy hammer 

 hangs by a band passing over the opposite shoulder. Before 

 starting on an excursion, make a practice of seeing that you 

 have everything with you, or when the critical moment comes, 

 and some choice and fragile specimen is ready to be borne 

 off, you may find that you are without the means necessary 

 for taking it home. For ordinary hard specimens, newspaper 

 well crumpled around them is without its equal, but some of 

 the more delicate must be first wrapped in tissue paper or even 

 cotton-wool, whilst the most fragile fossils should be packed 

 in tins with bran or sawdust, the particles of which fill in all the 

 corners and press equally everywhere, a useful faculty which 

 cotton wool does not possess. When neither of these are to be 

 obtained, dry sand will answer quite as well, though it is heavier 

 to carry. 



Although not absolutely necessary in the field, it is often useful 

 to have a small bottle of acid in your pocket (nitric acid diluted 

 to I- 1 2th with distilled water is the best) with which to test for 

 limestones ; a drop of acid placed on a rock will, if there be 

 any carbonate of lime in it, immediately begin to fizz. Finally, 

 every young collector should carry a note-book, and carefully 

 record in it what he sees in each pit he visits, while, if it can 

 be procured or borrowed, a geological map of the district you 

 are exploring is a great help, for with its aid and that of a good 

 compass you become practically independent of much extraneous 

 assistance. 



