SOME FOSSILS 79 



served so that it would ever be possible to determine what 

 sort of an animal it represented . At this stage it was then 

 called a "prospect," and serious work was begun on it, the 

 first attempt being to expose enough to determine the ex- 

 tent of the find. In these beds the bones were without any 

 infiltrated filling, so that, while perfect in form, they were 

 soft and fragile. To remedy this a coat of thin shellac was 

 applied and allowed to soak in, then a second and third and 

 often more were put on, until the matrix and bone ceased 

 to take up shellac. In the end by this means it was hard- 

 ened. As soon as this was complete, strips of cloth were 

 torn, dipped in flour paste, and adjusted to make a firm 

 bandage. When dried in this stage the whole should be 

 firm enough to work around, and the adjacent rock was 

 gently removed, leaving the specimen on more or less of 

 a pedestal. More bandages were adjusted and dried, and 

 finally it was ready to undermine and turn over, the same 

 processes being repeated on the underside, the result being 

 a package which was firm enough to pack in hay and ship. 

 In general, the preparation of a specimen took about three 

 days, other prospects having been found and started in the 

 meantime. 



At noon we made a point of all getting together for lunch ; 

 for many of the cases required a consultation, first, as to 

 whether a given lead was of any value, and second, as to 

 the methods to be used in getting at, dividing up, or turn- 

 ing over the more complex prospects. After a lunch of 

 bread and cold meat and if lucky a raw onion, inasmuch as 

 the tension of continually working around a specimen that 

 is liable to collapse at any moment tries one's nerves, we 

 usually relaxed a bit by going up on top of the hill where 

 the oyster beds were exposed, and searching for the small 

 marine shells, shark's teeth, etc., which accompanied them 

 here. At this point the oysters occurred in typical beds, 

 so that when weathered out the whole surface was strewn 

 with the shells and their fragments. Something in the 



