82 THREE KINGDOMS. 



incorporated. (The glycerine prevents the gum be- 

 coming brittle when dry.) 



The beautiful ferns, the curious friiits, the ornate 

 Siyillaria, and the bewitching glimpse given us of a 

 subtropic jungle, characterizing the coal-formation and 

 its flora, present a difficulty to the collector. Most of 

 the fossils are on shale and that crumbles to pieces 

 so easily when it gets dry. To prevent this, dry it 

 thoroughly, and put it in a shallow vessel (pie plate) in 

 which is some paraffin. Allow the whole arrangement 

 to stand on a warm plate until the paraffin is melted, 

 when the shale will soak it up, and, on cooling, be much 

 more able to stand the risks of tranportation. 



A Caution. Find out first from the specimen itself 

 what the genus is be it animal or plant. Then put on 

 a provisional label, like this: 



FAMILY 



Genus 



Specific name. 

 Collected by.. 



Named by 



Don't stick the label on the fossil, but stick on a 

 small bit of paper with a number on it to correspond 

 with your label- If you -have your labels printed, tell 

 the printer to put tliem in nonpareil. We will suppose 

 you have found a fossil; and on turning to the pictures 

 in the Geology you find it looks like Rynclionella capax, 

 or like Spirifer Niagarensis, or., it may be, Orthis Ij/tur. 

 You have here not only (3) genera, but (3) families 

 represented. Now, which is it? Reference to Dana's 

 handbook, page 170, tells you that the families are dis- 

 tinguished by differences of internal structure, that 

 your specimen, being solid, gives no information about. 

 Turn to Macfa.rlaue's Geological Railroad Guide, and 



