CHEMISTRY— WASHINGTON. 159 



material collected here will certainly prove to be of very great interest, 

 the rock being almost, if not quite, unique in its character. 



After a short stay in Sicily, where the extreme heat precluded the 

 hoped-for collection of the rocks of Mount Etna, the island of Pan- 

 telleria was visited. Here a representative collection was made of 

 the various interesting lavas for which this island is celebrated and 

 which will well repay investigation along modern lines. An excur- 

 sion was also taken to the small volcanic islet of Ljnosa, of which the 

 rocks, largely basaltic, have never been described. Near Tunis, the 

 next locality visited, the so-called volcano of Boukoumine was studied, 

 resulting in the discovery that it is not a volcano, being composed 

 entirely of limestone. 



From Tunis he passed over to Sardinia. Here extensive and 

 thoroughly representative collections were made of the varied and 

 extremely interesting rocks of the large volcano of Monte Ferru, as 

 well as of the heretofore undescribed trachytic and basaltic sheets 

 and small, recent basaltic cones which extend as far north as Sassari. 

 A reconnaissance of the petrographically unknown volcano of Monte 

 Arci, south of Monte Ferru, was also undertaken and representative 

 collections were made. Later, collecting was done at the Berici 

 Hills, near Vicenza, for the purpose of collation of these basalts with 

 the rocks of the neighboring Kuganean Hills, from which extensive 

 material had been obtained in former years. 



Dr. Washington returned to America in November. He thinks 

 that several years' work, devoted especially to chemical analysis, 

 will be required to describe satisfactorily the material which has been 

 collected. 



