TECHNIQUE 57 



to memory. Impressions gained while collecting are 

 vivid enough at the time, but they rarely last until the 

 " finds " have been sorted and labelled at home. If a 

 succession of exposures is visited in one day, details 

 of the various experiences become confused. Further, 

 even though memory may suffice to recall each episode 

 for a short time, the uncertainty of human affairs may 

 demand a long interval between collection and examina- 

 tion of material. The day's bag may not be unpacked 

 for several weeks, and the hand that unloads it may 

 not be the one that filled it. Unless the details noted 

 during the expedition are enclosed with the specimens 

 in writing, much essential information will be per- 

 manently lost. It is not enough to enter details in a 

 notebook, although such records should always be 

 made. A label must be enclosed with, and indeed 

 fastened to, each specimen before the quarry is left. 

 A supply of stamp-edging, or other gummed paper, 

 does not add materially to the weight of apparatus 

 carried ; but it may prove the most valuable item 

 thereof. 



The label for each fossil should record two facts: 

 first, the precise horizon, with reference to a fixed and 

 permanent feature of the exposure ; and second, the 

 locality. The latter should be indicated in such a way 

 that anyone, with the help of a map, could locate the 

 section, whether on the spot or in the study. Labels 

 are best written in ink or indelible pencil ; time, or a 

 drenching shower, may obliterate words written in 

 blacklead. 



For purposes of transport, ertry specimen must be 

 wrapped in paper or similar material. If several fossils 

 are enclosed in one sheet, care must be taken that at 

 least one thickness of paper separates each from its 

 neighbour. Without this precaution, some or all of 



