The dinosaur skull does, indeed, make for an excellent distraction. While Sasha and Augustine are busy having their silent exchange, Ford is thoroughly distracted and absolutely delighted over this actual dinosaur skull greeting him like an affectionate cat. Whatever tension may have hung over him has completely disappeared by the time Augustine speaks and Ford looks up again.

"Oh-- don't worry, it's not bothering me."

Though... being familiar to the weird dinosaur head is a strange concept. If it were the correct sort he'd assume that Augustine had somehow come across his old t-rex skull from one of those portals, but when Augustine mentions his field of study a different possibility occurs to him.

"Anomalous phenomena would be the easiest way to describe it - ghost sightings, cryptozoological creatures, encounters with the supernatural. It's a bit like xenoanthropology, though in Trench it's more like just 'anthropology'."