Obs. [Incorrectly f. FOSSIL sb. + -LOGY.] That branch of science which deals with fossils; palæontology; also, a treatise on this. So † Fossilogist, one who studies this science.
1776. G. Edwards (title), Elements of Fossilogy.
1776. De Costa, Conchology, 250. The fossil Oysters yet undiscovered recent or living from sea are very many; the chief of them are the Gryphytæ of fossilogists, of which there are several species.
1806. Guide to Watering Places, 176. In fossilogy we shall notice the echini, shark’s teeth, and ammoniæ, the cornua ammonis, and many other turbinated and bivalved shells.
1812. Gentl. Mag., LXXXII. I. March, 206/1. Counsellor William Franckombe, an accurate and learned fossilogist, chiefly in petrefacta, and had a numerous and well-chosen collection of fossils, was born at Bristol, on the 6th August 1734, and died of an over-fatness, asthma, &c. on the 3d of September 1767.
1866. Phillips, in Athenæum, 2 May (1874). Natural History and ‘Fossilogy,’ as we then termed the magnificent branch of study now known as Palaeontology.
