474 DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING FOSSILS. 



(except No. 5) are those of mineralogical hammers of 

 various forms and dimensions. A few mason's chisels, of 

 various sizes, and a small miner's pick, fig. 5, will be 

 ' found useful. A glove of thick leather for the left hand, 

 on which the specimens are trimmed ; and for their con- 

 veyance, a bag (likewise of leather), thin and cartridge 

 paper for packing, small pieces of paper ready cut for labels, 

 and paste or thick gum-water to affix the numbers to the 

 specimens, constitute, together with wool and cotton for 

 delicate secondary fossils, minerals, &c., all the apparatus 

 needful to those who undertake the task of collecting. 



14. No particular rules can be given for the operation of 

 breaking, trimming, and fashioning rock-specimens ; but the 

 skilful management of the hammer, though some patience and 

 practice be required, is by no means of difficult acquisition. 



Specimens intended for public collections, generally 

 speaking, should be of rather large dimensions ; some 

 masses, especially compound rocks, such as conglomerates, 

 <fcc., cannot, in afi their characteristic parts, be studied from 

 diminutive fragments. A convenient size is four, to four and 

 half, by three inches, and three quarters of an inch to one 

 inch in thickness. Regularity of shape considerably facili- 

 tates the proper and safe packing of the specimens. Trim 

 and fashion them on the spot, where there is abundance of 

 materials ; what you intend to be the finishing blow with 

 your hammer will sometimes spoil a specimen. All the 

 surfaces must exhibit a fresh fracture, except where it is 

 desirable to illustrate disintegration through atmospheric 

 and other influences ; in which case more than one specimen 

 should be obtained. 



15. Each object should have its number affixed by means 

 of thick gum-water or paste, and be accompanied by a ticket 

 on which the exact locality is given, together with such 

 information relative to the nature of the masses from which 

 it is taken as the specimen alone is not calculated to con- 

 vey : whether they occur in distinct concretions, columnar, 

 <&c. ; or, if stratified, what is the thickness of the stratum, 

 its inclination to the horizon, &c. The numbers on the 

 specimens may, at the same time, correspond with those 

 of the notes of his road-book, if such be kept by the 

 collector. 



