Remains of Vertebrata, especially of mammals, birds and reptiles, are of
great interest; but it is useless to collect fragments of bones without
terminations. Skulls are much more important than other bones, and even
single teeth are well worth collecting. After skulls, vertebræ are the
most useful parts of the skeleton, then limb bones. If complete skeletons
are found, they are usually well worth some trouble in transporting. If
fossil bones are found abundantly in any locality, and the traveller has
no sufficient means of transport, he will do well to carry away a few
skulls, or even teeth, and carefully note the locality for the benefit
of future geologists and explorers. The soil of limestone caverns, and
especially the more or less consolidated loam, rubble, clay, or sand
beneath the flooring of stalagmite, if it can be examined, should always
be searched for bones, and also for indications of man or his works.
The foregoing remarks are intended for all travellers, especially for
those who have paid little or no attention to geology. It would be far
beyond the object of the present notes to attempt to give instruction
in the methods of geological observation; all who wish to know more
fully what questions are especially worthy of attention, should consult
the article on Geology by the late Dr. Charles Darwin and Professor.
J. Phillips in the ‘Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry.’ But a
few hints may be usefully added here for those who have already some
knowledge of geology, who do not require to have such terms as dip,
strike, fault, or denudation explained to them, and who are sufficiently
conversant with geological phenomena to be able to distinguish
sedimentary from volcanic, and metamorphic from unaltered rocks, and to
recognise granite, gneiss, schist, basalt, trachyte, slate, limestone,
sandstone, shale, &c., in the field. Assuming then that a traveller with
some knowledge of field geology is making a journey through a tract of
the earth’s surface, the geology of which is unknown, what will be the
best method of procedure and the principal points to which he should
direct his attention?
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