I ran acrossed this a couple months ago and did not save the link anywhere, unfortunately.
Basically, there is a URl syntax to extract a Sharepoint Lists basic schema that exports it to the browser in XML format. It gives the basic information for the field and views of the list.
Resolution: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kaevans/archive/2009/05/01/getting-xml-data-from-a-sharepoint-list-the-easy-way.aspx
You just have to put in the right context of words to get the result you need.
For everyone else's sake:
http://<PATH TO SITE>/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?Cmd=ExportList&List={GUID}
The list GUID can be found by going to the List Settings, then pulling out the GUID from the URL.