476 DIRECTIONS FOB COLLECTING FOSSILS. 



IN addition to the foregoing instructions by M. Konig, the student 

 should be informed that in collecting fossils from the Silurian, Devonian, 

 carboniferous, permian, triasic, and oolitic groups, the rock should 

 be removed as much as possible from the shell or coral, on the spot ; any 

 fragments of the fossil that may have been broken off should be carefully 

 collected and folded in thin, soft, paper, along with the specimen to 

 which they belong : on returning home from the excursion, the frag- 

 ments should be cemented in their proper places with a thick mucilage 

 of gum arabic; the specimens may, afterwards, be cleaned and reduced to 

 a convenient size for the cabinet : it is always desirable to preserve 

 some fossils embedded in a portion of the rock in which they are found, 

 to facilitate reference, and decide the stratigraphical position of the 

 specimen. In the case of cretaceous fossils, the best cement we know 

 is the following : Dissolve a few pieces of gum mastic in as much 

 spirits of wine as will make them liquid. In another vessel dissolve as 

 much isinglass (previously soaked in warm water until softened) in 

 rum, brandy, or spirits of wine, as will make two ounces, by measure, 

 of strong glue : add two bits of powdered galbanum or ammoniacum. 

 Mix the whole with a sufficient heat, and keep the composition in a 

 well-corked, wide-mouthed bottle. When the cement is required for 

 use, the bottle must be immersed up to the neck in a cup of hot-water. 

 This compound is used by the most experienced, practical paleontolo- 

 gists, for cementing the fishes, Crustacea, mollusca, and echinodermata 

 of the chalk ; we have found it, likewise, most valuable for uniting 

 tertiary reptilian and mammalian bones. Tertiary fossils are usually 

 very delicate and brittle : the Isle of Wight and Barton shells are, in 

 general, in good preservation ; those from Bracklesham Bay, however, 

 from having been exposed to the action of sea- water, are soft and much 

 decayed ; they should be removed from the bed with a considerable 

 portion of the clay and sand, and dried in the sun ; afterwards, saturated 

 with a thin mucilage of gum tragacanth (a quarter of an ounce of the 

 gum to six ounces of cold water), prepared a week or ten days 

 previously : after the shell is set with this preparation, the clay or sand 

 may be removed. This mucilage is a most valuable agent for coating 

 many other fossil shells disposed to decay, and likewise the bones and 

 teeth of mammalia. Tertiary shells travel best packed in light toy- 

 boxes,* disposed in the following manner : First cover the bottom of 

 the box an inch and a half deep with dry bran ; then place a layer of 

 shells nearly of one size, well embedded in the same ; cover them with 

 another layer of bran, and repeat the process until the box is quite 

 filled. Small boxes thus packed should afterwards be put into a case, 

 and well wedged into the same with waste paper. The most delicate 

 specimens may be transmitted in this way without fear of injury. 



T. W. 



* May be obtained, in nests, from Evans and Sons' toy-warehouse, 

 116, Newgate-street, London. 



