THE MINERAL COLLECTOR 



477 



QUARTZ CRYSTALS FROM THE BRONX, NEW YORK CITY. 



ones that I have found in this kind of 

 rock within the limits of the City; all 

 the others coming from the limestones 

 so well developed in this region. In 

 the excavation for the Concourse at 

 about 173d St., a mass of crystals, 

 about six inches long and four inches 

 wide was found. These crystals range 

 from very small ones to some whose 

 faces are ten millimeters across. Un- 

 like those from Fort George, these are 

 transparent and colorless. But, by far 

 the finest mass of crystals was found 

 just north of this place and I can well 

 remember the hot, summer day on 

 which it was discovered, also, how 

 joyfully I worked with hammer and 

 chisel to separate it from the mass of 

 rock on which it was formed. Some 

 of these crystals contained black inclu- 

 sions, otherwise, they are colorless and 

 transparent. South and east of this 

 locality, but in the same limestones, 

 near Clay Ave. a beautiful specimen 

 was found. This consisted of a pocket, 

 or geode, in some disintegrating lime- 

 stone whose walls were covered by a 



mass of drusy quartz and small crys- 

 tals. No diamond sparkles more bril- 

 liantly than does this crystal-lined 

 cavity. 



The three localities last mentioned 

 lie in the limestone west of the high, 

 gneissic ridge that extends along the 

 west side of Webster Ave. in this re- 

 gion. To the east of this ridge, lies 

 another limestone belt which formerly 

 was joined to and was continuous with 

 the limestone to the west. In this 

 limestone, at Third Ave., just north of 

 170th St., a few scattered crystals in 

 an imperfect condition were found 



While good crystals have probably 

 been found in other parts of the Bronx, 

 the foregoing are the only places in 

 which specimens have been obtained 

 as a result of my own collecting. 



It is an excellent magazine, and, 

 partly through it, my boys, now young 

 men, have been led to the systematic 

 scientific study of specialties. — Rev. E. 

 A. Wasson, Ph. D., Newark, New Jersey. 



