UNPRODUCTIVE NODULES. 123 



indeed choked up the residue of the fish-bed, 

 and until this was removed even partial success 

 was out of the question. A few seasons of heavy 

 rain, hard frost, and subsequent thaws had 

 loosened the consistency of the upper stratum of 

 mould and gravel, portions of which were arrested 

 in their descent, and patches of broom and gorse 

 had consequently taken root half-way down, 

 actually appearing to grow out of a hard bed of 

 conglomerate, while each succeeding year added 

 to the ruins. Great was my disappointment, 

 though I derived some consolation from discover- 

 ing, at the base of the cliff, several small nodules, 

 and some of even larger dimensions in the l>ed of 

 the stream, under water, for which I continued to 

 wade perseveringly during the remainder of the 

 afternoon, and carried home the greater portion of 

 them in my fish-bag. 



Before dark that evening I had explored their 

 contents. Although by no means sanguine on 

 the subject, I had ventured to expect better luck, 

 but my hands were at last weary of wielding 

 hammer and chisel when my labour was only 

 rewarded occasionally by a mere ferruginous spot 

 in the centre of the nodule, or a few scales or 

 spines, or at best, by the tail or some fragment of 

 an ichthyolite. By far the greater number con- 



