POPULAR GEOLOGY. 83 



while at other times he wanders amid isles of palm and tree-fern, and other 

 beautiful plants, of the great Carboniferous flora. Every season of the 

 year is alike interesting to him, for it is by the aid of the present, that he 

 interprets the past history of the earth. He has to do with seasons that 

 have long been past, and with harvest that have been gathered by the 

 hand of nature, and preserved for him in the vast storehouses of the earth. 

 And providing it be a favourable day and he has the opportunity, he is 

 sure to meet with some relicts of those bye-gone worlds, that will fvirnish 

 " food for reflection." 



So taking advantage of a holiday the day before last Christmas, I 

 took down my hammer and bag and set out on a visit to Low-moor. It 

 was a calm and lovely morning, but, " Cloudland and georgeous cloudland,'i 

 though it presented a splendid appearance, did not seem very promising of 

 a fine day. There Avas just one little oval space of azure, marbled with 

 cloudlets of dazzUng whiteness, with the sun himself in the centre covered 

 with a veil of silver, while all the rest of the heavens were mantled with 

 dark heavy clouds. Going along the "Wakefield road, before reaching 

 Hipperholme we see the long hue of stone-quarries, stretching away from 

 Hipperholme Station to Haugh Edge, this is the Flagstone Eock. Passing 

 over this rock at Hipperholme, we walk over the lower strata of the Middle 

 Coal-measures. My first visit was made to Eook's Pit, a favom-ite with 

 local geologists. Here the Low-moor Better bed coal is first met with — the 

 lowest workable bed of coal in the Middle Coal-measures. Turning up a 

 bye-lane, we pass an ancient mansion, built in the EHzabethian style and 

 conspicioui, on account of its many windows with their stone muUions and 

 transoms, and also by its internal porch. Instead of projecting from the 

 building as porches usually do, it forms part of the buUding and has a 

 chamber over it. The coal-pit is just behind ; but some new pits have 

 been simk at the upper end of the field, and in sinking them and driving 

 new mines to the coal-beds, a great quantity of shale has been brought to 

 the surface — in this shale many interesting remains of fish, such as bones, 

 teetlj, scales, &c., have been found. To-day, I was not fortimate in 

 finding any fossils worth taking, for it appears, that none of the shale 

 which contains them has been brought up to the surface lately ; but in 

 former visits I have been more successful. There are some fine specimens in 

 my cabinet which I found here, including a shield shaped fish-scale, and 

 part of one of the largest fish -teeth I have ever yet found. 



I next crossed over the valley by Pickle Bridge Station, passed the 



