222 



THE GUIDE T< ) XA'IVRE 



Limonite Geodes. 



Limonite is an oxide of iron and is 

 widely distributed through the earth. 

 It is reall) an alterated product, being 

 the result of the oxidation or decom- 

 position of other ores containing iron. 

 It would take much space to describe 

 all the different forms this mineral 

 takes, so I will describe 1>ut one, the 

 geodic form, an illustration of which 

 will be found herewith. These geodes 

 arc generally found along river beds or 

 other bodies of water and are formed 

 by the decomposition of the inner parts 



of these "iron shells," which often cm- 

 tain sand or pebbles, and arc then called 

 "rattleboxes." The outer surface is 

 often coated with pebbles and resembles 

 a conglomerate. Thus while the outside 

 is almost always rough and uneven the 

 inside is smooth. In quartz and calcite 

 geodes the opposite is true, the outside 

 being almost smooth and the inside 

 coated with crystals having many sharp 

 points. These limonite geodes are 

 found abundantly at South River. New 

 Jersey, although this particular speci- 

 men came from along the Atlantic c >ast. 



Some Commendable Frauds. hood may eventually become classic. 



Nature-faking is legitimate, when the But when a naturalist puts a stuffed 



faking is evidently done to make us partridge on a nest and sells the pbo- 



laugh or to excite admiration for the tograph as a study from life, he becomes 



skill of the faker. A lie well told may a contemptible liar. If, however, he 



become good literature, and that false- labels the photograph correctly, he may 



No. l. HOW CAN LITTLE MEN MANAGE SO BIG GEESE? 



