126 OVER ON THE ISLAND

The Island is alive!

“Do you realize,” the older man interrupted my thoughts, “that the Island belongs to the Permian and Triassic eras?”

“Why . . .” began Jean.

“. no!” I finished.

“It is. But mostly Permian. There are several anticlines at different places on the Island. There is red sandstone, arenaceous shale, calcareous sandstone, and pebble conglomerates as well.”

“ Fancy that!”

“Fossils have been found, too, ” continued our visitor enthusiastically. “At New London, they dug up, quite a while ago, the jaw of a large carnivorous reptile. It was the second real discovery of saurian bones in the new red sandstone of America.”

“Wonderful. Wonderful, ” Jean yawned. “And what became of it? "

“ It was bought by the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Have you ever been to Hog Island?"

H NO. Y)

“A dark mass of dolerite came through the sand- stone there. It’s well worth seeing. ”

“What is it like? ”

“ It is a dyke or diabase

”Just what I thought, ” commented Jean pleasantly.

“ It is volcanic and was ejected from the interior of the earth while still molten. Naturally it hardened and altered the strata with which it came in contact. ”

” Naturally. "

“You know, a great glacier once covered this terri— tory. That accounts for the granite boulders, and the

moraines. ” “The what? ”

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