NOTES ON THE LATE COLLECTING SEASON 



SO by their respective employments in the more bns}" spring 

 months, and I believe it may be found, after all, judging 

 from the writer's experierice during the past few j^ears, to 

 be the better time for collecting upper chert specimens. In 

 a recent visit to the Hesse Spring Farm for the purpose of 

 obtaining a few Indian relics for the Dublin Museum, close 

 to the limekiln, on the surface of the field, I was rather 

 surprised to find a chert sponge section, as also a much 

 decayed slab from the lower Silurians, containing an 

 Ambonychea and Monticulipora, and close beside la)^ a fine 

 specimen of an Indian fire stone. The fossils were con- 

 veyed there in the Glacial Age evidently, the sponge frag- 

 ment occurring eighty feet perhaps above its natural site. 

 Several Archaean weathered specimens v/ere also noticed 

 there. 



AUTUMNAL COLLECTING SEASON. 



Some years ago when the City quarry was worked 

 during the winter, even when snow had to be removed to 

 get at the chert beds, I placed before a visitor a large num- 

 ber of Graptolites I collected there a day or two previoush^ 

 He evidently was surprised at the specimens obtained, and 

 remarked, " Surely this cannot be the best time for collect- 

 ing? " No, it certainly was not. A coat of ice on the sur- 

 face of a layer frequently conceals the Graptolite under- 

 neath. On recalling the conversation lately, the writer 

 thought it advisable to make a little distinction in the 

 spring and autumnal searches for sponges, and flint-flake 

 fossils in the fields near the brow of the escarpment and 

 Corporation drain. I noticed last year more specimens had 

 been acquired when the crops were removed than before 

 they were planted. 



In some of the well-known fields this 3'ear the nature 

 of the crops seemed more favorable for collecting than 

 usual, but I almost despaired of much success when recall- 

 ing the difiiculty of failing sight. I thought it likely that 



