Chapter XIII 

 A "LIVING FOSSIL" 



At the northern border of my tide pool, the bottom 

 and the neighboring beach lose somewhat of their 

 sandy character. The region is paved with the stones 

 and pebbles that have been transported here by ancient 

 glaciers. Time and tide have done much to wear them 

 down, and those which are more exposed are flattened 

 in shape owing to cleavage by the frost and other 

 natural agencies. They are of various sizes, ranging 

 from small waferlike pebbles to an occasional bowlder 

 standing as high as my waist. They are of red sand- 

 s' one and form no part of the native rock that composes 

 the foundation of Lond Island. Whence they came 

 no one knows. Geologists have made several attempts 

 to trace them to their source, but without success. 



Now these stones have an Interest all their own, 

 apart from the mystery of their origin. If an expert 

 blow be given to the laminated edge of one of the slabs, 

 it will open after the fashion of a ponderous volume, 

 and just as In some long-forgotten tome, wherein is 

 sometimes discovered between the ancient leaves the 

 stark remains of a flower which bloomed in another 

 day, there will likewise be found preserved in the stony 

 matrix pretty plants of a former age. Gone, of course, 



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