26 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



am deeply grateful. I smoothed down the rock 

 with emery-stone also, and with a No. i needle 

 pried away the stone from the petioles, leaving the 

 impression as if it were the leaf itself standing up 

 in bold relief, thus bringing out all its beauty. One 

 of my neighbors, after examining the prepared 

 specimens, remarked, " You must have taken a long 

 time to carve those things. Why, they look just 

 like leaves ! " 



When no more loving labor could be bestowed on 

 them without risk of injuring the specimens, I laid 

 them away in trays, to be numbered and identified. 

 I knew that some authorities demanded the speci- 

 mens in payment for the labor of identification, and 

 as I had to make a living out of my work, this 

 would never do for me. So after Lesquereux's 

 death I undertook the work of identification myself, 

 although I confess it hurt my conscience, as I had 

 never had the training of a botanical authority. I 

 was greatly relieved, therefore, when, after selling 

 two hundred and fifty specimens to the New York 

 Botanical Gardens, I asked Dr. Arthur Hollick 

 whether my identifications were correct, to receive 

 the answer that upon a casual examination he could 

 find no reason to make any changes in my names. 

 I was certainly much encouraged by such words 

 from this eminent authority in fossil botany. 



To return to my great collection from the Dakota 



