HANDBOOK OF FOSSILS. 73 



markings. But what we fail to accomplish in our impatience, 

 nature effects by slow degrees, and if you will turn over the 

 weathered pieces and blocks lying about, you will soon find 

 plenty of fossils sticking out all over them ; by a judicious use of 

 hammer and chisel any of these may be detached and added to 

 your stock, each being separately packed in paper and the 

 locality written on the outside. Some seventy or eighty feet is 

 all that is visible of this limestone ; the rest is unexcavated. 



Before leaving the pit, it will be as well to select such rock 

 specimens as you wish to place in your cabinet, trimming them 

 to the required size on the spot, for should you, as is not unlikely, 

 spoil two or three, you can readily pick a fresh one. Having 

 secured our specimens, we will take a look at our note-book, to 

 see if we have noted all the details we require. If so, our 

 entries should run something as follows : First, we have made 

 a rough sketch of the position of the beds, carefully numbering 

 each one ; then follow our notes on the individual beds, pre- 

 ceded by numbers corresponding with those in the sketch, 

 thus : 



1. Surface Soil 2 ft. 



2. River Gravel, including a lenticular mass of ) /-. 



3. Sand, with land and fresh-water shells and bones of animals . \ 1( 



4. Stiff dark -brown clay, with estuarine shells . . 6 ft. seen. 



5. Light-brown sandy clay, with leaves and stems of plants . . 3 ft. 



6. Band of Lignite 2 in. 



7. Same as 5, passing into j re ft 



8. Pure Sand, with layers of concretions containing casts of shells ) 



9. Dark-Grey Limestone, with numerous fossils ... 80 ft. seen. 



Beds 4 to 9 dip at an angle of 45 to the N.N.E. 



Our imaginary pit is of course only a sort of geological Juan 

 Fernandez, but it will serve in some degree to illustrate the method 

 of dealing with various rocks and fossils when met with in the 

 field, and how they may best be collected and carried home. 

 A few additional suggestions where to look for fossils may, 

 however, be given here. To begn with, inever neglect to search 

 the fallen masses, especially their weathered surfaces, or to look 

 carefully over the heaps of quarried materials, whatever they 

 may happen to be, piled on the floor of the pit. In working at 

 the beds themselves, remember that fossils frequently occur in 

 layers which of course represent the old sea-bottom of the 

 period ; to find these, it is necessary to follow the beds in a 

 direction at right angles to their stratification, till you arrive at 

 the sought-for layers, or zones. 



Do not be surprised, when collecting from a formation you 

 have never before studied, if the fossils are not at first apparent, 

 though many are known to be present. The eye requires a few 



