BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [16] 



several can be wrapped together, but separate each one so as not to rub, 

 adding others as the package is rolled up. Another good method, which 

 in some cases is the only successful one, is to select the smaller and 

 more delicate fossils and lay them between cotton in cigar boxes. When 

 the collection is wrapped, set the j)ackages vertically in the box, one 

 against the other, in rows and layers, until filled up. Never lay thin 

 slabs horizontally in the box, as the jarriug during transijortation is 

 apt to break quite a number. If a vacant sj^ace is left on the top, fill 

 up with excelsior, hay, straw, or paper, and force this loose material 

 gently but firmly down with the lid. 



Boxes are conveniently and cheaply purchased in grocery or dry goods 

 stores. Soap, starch, or canned-fruit boxes will answer for invertebrates, 

 or if stronger and larger boxes are needed these can be had in hard- 

 ware or stove stores. 



Number the boxes and keep a list of the contents, especially a list of 

 the localities from which the fossils in each box have been derived. 



PART III. — METHOD OF COLLECTING EOSSIL VEKTEBEATES.^ 



To the invertebrate outfit described on a previous page it is necessary, 

 when collecting fossil vertebrates, to add a pick and shovel for digging, 

 some large stone mason's chisels for use in freeing bones from a hard 

 matrix, a large bag of flour, plenty of gunny cloth, several cans of pre- 

 pared glue, and some gum arable for saturating soft bones. Eough 

 boards, an inch thick, for making boxes should be included in the outfit 

 when lumber yards or suitable boxes are not accessible. 



DISCOVERY AND REMOVAL OF SKELETONS. 



Bones, as a rule, are not nearly as easily gathered as invertebrates or 

 plants. Of course loose specimens are easily collected, but it is not 

 common to find such in good preservation. The difficulties encountered 

 in successfully collecting bones are numerous, beginning with the finding 

 of a skeleton and increasing as the work of digging up a monster pro- 

 gresses. Persons without experience in taking up vertebrates and 

 finding large specimens should begin the exhuming cautiously and 

 slowly, or, better still, leave the skeleton alone, cover the exposed parts 

 with earth, and call the attention of this Museum to the find. How- 

 ever, make some examination of the specimen, as to the extent of the 

 parts and their condition, so that an intelligent description of it may 

 be given. 



In some regions, if "the explorer searches the bottoms of the rain 

 washes and ravines, he will doubtless come upon the fragment of a tooth 

 or jaw, and will generally find a line of such pieces leading to an ele- 

 vated position on the bank or blulf where lies the skeleton of some 



'To Prof. 0. C. Marsh, liouorary curator of fossil vertebrates in the National 

 Museum, the writer gratefully acknowledges valuable suggestions in relation to this 

 work. 



