312 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



to circular in area, and vary from 0.25 to 0.5 inch in diameter. They doubtless mark the location of chondri of 

 fusible composition. 



Under the microscope, the crust shows in cross section a thickness of about 0.5 mm. The three zones of Tscher- 

 mak are plainly marked, with widths averaging as follows: Fusion zone 0.025 mm., absorption zone 0.1 mm., impreg- 

 nation zone 0.4 mm. These zones exhibit the usual characters, the fusion zone being black, opaque, and glassy, the 

 absorption zone transparent, and the impregnation zone showing a large proportion of black, opaque matter. The 

 relative widths above given remain fairly constant, although in places the absorption and fusion zones are of about 

 equal width, and again, the absorption zone may disappear altogether. The fusion zone is at times also blebby and 

 rough in outline. The interior of the meteorite is megascopically ash gray in color, in some individuals flecked with 

 rusty spots. The substance is only fairly coherent, and will not polish. 



The meteorite is somewhat distributed. The Field Museum collection possesses 4,513 

 grams. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1905: Scott County Chronicle, September 8. 



2. 1906: Merrill. A new meteorite from Scott County, Kansas. Science, n. B., vol. 23, March 9, p. 391. 



3. 1906: Farrington. Meteorite shower at Modoc, Kansas. Science, n. s., vol. 23, April 13, p. 582. 



4. 1906: Merrill. On a new stony meteorite from Modoc, Scott County, Kansas. Amer. Journ. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 



21, pp. 356-360. 



5. 1907: Farrington. Meteorite Studies II. Publ. Field Columbian Mus., Geol. ser., vol. 3, pp. 120-125. 



Monmouth County. See Deal. 



Monroe. See Flows. 



Monroe County. See Forsyth. 



Morelos. See Amates. 



Morgan County. See Walker County. 



MORITO. 



Chihuahua, Mexico. 



Here also El Morito and San Gregorio. 



Latitude 27° 53' N., longitude 105° 40' W. 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om), of Brezina: Caillite (type 18), of Meunier. 



Known since 1600; mentioned 1619. 



Weight, 11,000 kgs. (24,250 pounds). 



A mention by Cordoba ' of the discovery of a mass of iron by Onate in 1600 is regarded by 

 Fletcher 13 as referring to this meteorite. This mention is as follows: 



They (Onate's expedition) reached the farthest villages on the border of New Biscay, where there is a tradition of 

 the Indians that, when they were coming from New Mexico to people the Old, their deity in the form of an aged 

 woman placed there a remarkable landmark of seemingly more than 800 quintals (hundredweight) of iron, where- 

 upon some returned to their mother country and some went on to people new Spain. And, for their boundary and 

 peace, they were divided by this wondrous landmark, set up in a desert, in latitude 27° 30' N., and as lustrous as refined 

 silver. * * * They (Onate) marched with great toil. * * * and in seven (7) months they reached the prov- 

 ince they were making for. 



Another early account of the meteorite is quoted by Fletcher 13 from Salmeron, 3 as follows: 



There is also an old tradition among the Indians that a lump of metallic iron, which is 3 leagues distant from 

 Santa Barbola (sic), and half a league away from the road to New Mexico, is a memorial of the coming of the Mexicans 

 to people this country (Old Mexico); and that they halted near there, and that the idol which used to speak to them 

 told them that it would tarry at the place as a memorial. The iron must weigh upwards of 8 hundredweight (quin- 

 tals), and they say that a deity, in the form of an Indian woman, aged, and wrinkled, used to draw it along. How 

 remarkably strong the old Indian woman must have been I It is an object which all who pass along this road go and 

 look at as a curiosity. A blacksmith of Santa Barbola (sic) severed a bit from one side; and others, not believing it 

 to be an object that could have been moved and dragged from a distance, but suspecting it to be (the outcrop of) a 

 mine of native iron, made an excavation beneath it. On the removal of the earth by which it was supported, the 

 mass turned over on one side, and it is in that position at the present day. 



