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Notes on a few Natural History Collections visited in the course of a tour on the continent in 1880 / by Thomas Stock
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NOTES ON A FEW NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS.

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It may be useful to give a few hints on the collection of fossilsfrom Swiss rocks. Many tourists to Switzerland would be willingto collect if they knew the localities which gave greatest promiseof success. Great disappointment is usually experienced in theattempt to collect fossils in the higher Alps . Gault specimensare, however, pretty easily procurable, though in fragments, onthe road from Alpnach to Pilatus. The locality is not difficultto find. Another good locality is the Iberg, which in some partsis very rich in fossils; but they are for the most part in badpreservation, as indeed is generally the case with specimensfound in the Alps .

For Neocomian fossils, good localities are Haute Rive (Neu-chatel) and St Croix (Vaud ). For Carboniferous , the Col deBalme, Salvan, &c.

A good locality is Brugg or Baden, and the neighbourhood ismuch frequented by Swiss students. They are situated in aninteresting valley. There are good exposures of rocks, rangingin age from the Trias to the Miocene . Living is cheap in thevillages round. The fossils are usually got from the quarries orfrom the vineyards after a heavy rain. Most of the Jurassicspecies are obtained there, and it is near to Schambelen, which doesnot appear to be by any means exhausted. A short itineraryfollows,* starting from Brugg .

First day.Schambelen, Miilligen, Birmenstorf , Brugg .

Second day.Remigen, Geissberg (Kammerfels, first localityfor Aargovian III.), Gausingen, Etzgen (Trias); walk alongthe Rhine to Schwatterloch (Muschelkalk ), cross to Albbruck (Germany ) ,and return by railway; or return from Schwatterlochto Wyl ,Hottwyl, Remigen, Brugg .

Third day.Rail to Baden. Walk to Wettingen through thevineyards; rail from Wettingen to Othmarsingen (Miocene quarry);walk to Wildegg (Upper Jurassic ) and Auenstein (cremilarisshales, quarry), return to Wildegg and Brugg .

Fourth day.Baden, Lagern (up through the vineyards nearWettingen ), Schloss-stein, and return.

Fifth day.Aarau (museum), Schonewand, Olten , Solotliurn,(museum), and back.

Paris .The museums at Paris are too well known to requiremuch description. An entire building is devoted to palaeon-tology in the Jardin des plantes ; and the museum of the JtJcolede s mines is celebrated for its extent and importance. Thelatter contains Deshayes collections. In the Jardin des plantes a new building is in course of construction, which when com-pleted will contain the zoological collections now lodged in abuilding deficient in light and otherwise unsuited for purposesof exhibition. MM. Fischer and Renault kindly gave me every* Drawn up by Dr Haensler.