CHAP. xi. A DIPLOPTERUS. 137 



hard that feint a bit o' the pick wud go through it. 

 The grun's like iron. But/ he added, ' I've got a fish ! ' 

 ' Have ye ?' said I. ' Yes/ he said, ' oot o' anither place. 

 Ye can see it in the barn.' And away we went to inspect 

 the fish in the barn ; and there it was, spread out on the 

 clay floor. 'See!' said he. 'O man/ said I, that's 

 grand, it's a new kind' [Dipterus]. It had been much 

 wasted ere it was buried up in the mud ; the tail rays 

 were all scattered; the head plates were spread out; 

 but a piece of the body was standing up wonderfully 

 full and round. 



" ' See/ said he again, ' there's a head !' It was that 

 of a Diplopterus much broken, but of a good size. ' I 

 must see the place from which it was taken/ said I. 

 ' Come away then.' So, shouldering a pick and spade, 

 away we set. About three good stonethrows from the 

 burn, we came to what some people had been trying to 

 make a ditch rough and rude and in the ditch was a 

 rock, and in the rock, fish and abundance of loose 

 scales. But the fish are much wasted. We worked at 

 the place an hour, but did not get one fish that would 

 bear carrying away. We saw plenty of broken Diplo- 

 pterus. I cut my hand and broke my chisel, and then 

 left the spot, and went back to the burn, where I got a 

 few small things. 



" If you choose to come here and stay three or four 

 days with me, you can have a fair trial upon a third 

 locality close by, which has never yet been fairly 

 tested. I will make you welcome, to my little house, 

 and you can give Scrabster, Holborn Head, a trial also 



