>Eons ago, when I was a very young teen, I met a man who was digging
>for fossils on the ranch I was visiting...He would get on his horse,
>maybe walk a few feet or yards at most, dismount, pick at the earth,
>take a brush and dust it, paint it with something, and get on his
>horse again to go to the next specimen.  I of course was fascinated
>and asked what he was doing and he told me he was collecting fossils
>for Smithsonian, a university and other interested people.  I asked
>then, how could he tell the difference between a fossil and an old
>cow bone just lying around.  This may strike you funny as it did to
>me, but he said if you stick your tongue to it and it sticks
>slightly like sticking your tongue to an ice cube, then its probably
>fossil.  I hadnt really tried this with shells until a few moments
>ago...and believe it or not...it worked on the one I tried.

This will only work if the shell has been leached by groundwater (ie
partially decalcified, and now porous and permeable). A really
well-preserved or recrystallized fossil won't do this, as there will
be no connected porespaces to draw the water in by capillarity.

An old leached cow bone is likely to stick too!

>Try it....cant hurt.

Depends where the fossil's been...

*I* lick fossils collected within reach of the sea; if salt remains
the fossil will eventually be wedged apart by hydration/dehydration
allowing salt crystals to grow and break the fossil up.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin, New Zealand
64 (3) 473-8863
<[log in to unmask]>
Fossil preparator
Seashell, Macintosh & VW/Toyota van nut
I want your sinistral gastropods!