184 Transactions. 



plainly visible. The determination of the specillc gravity of a fragment 

 gave a result 3-41, which is somewhat low ; but this meteorite is remark- 

 ably vesicular, which makes is appear lighter than it really is. However, 

 the graphite constituent points to the former existence of a hydrocarbon, 

 and meteorites with hydrocarbons appear to be noted for their low specific 

 gravity. Under the microscope it shows the following characters : It 

 consists largely of a groundmass of dark unindividualised matter, which 

 contains numerous irregular crystal fragments of small size, consisting 

 chiefly of olivine, and occasional patches of brownish glass full of bubbles 

 and black dust. In this base are numerous chondri up to 1-5 mm. in dia- 

 meter, usually rounded and distinct from the groundmass, but at times 

 ill-defined and grading into it. Some of the patches are cloudy and in- 

 definite in character, but obviously of crystal particles. Many of the 

 chondri show a nucleus of coarser grain, with a halo of smaller grains 

 between it and the surrounding base. When enstatite is present they 

 usually exhibit a fibrous structure. They are composed chiefly of olivine 

 fragments, which are brecciated and irregular in shape, much fissured by 

 cracks, clear as a riile, and containing rounded black grains and bubbles, 

 apparently of gas. The size of the fragments is tolerably uniform in each 

 chondrus, with the exception of those showing the halo, and they grade 

 downward from 1 mm. in length to those which can only be separated by 

 higher powers of the microscope. Augite and also enstatite are present, 

 some of the chondri being composed exclusively of the latter mineral 

 arranged in sheaf-like aggregates, but it occurs frequently associated with 

 olivine in the same chondrus. Small fragments of feldspars are occasionally 

 seen with fine twinning of the albite type. The only means of determination 

 that could be employed was Michel-Levy's method, and from the small 

 number and size of the fragments even this was not altogether satisfactory. 

 There were several small extinction-angles, but they ranged as high as 27°, 

 corresponding to an acid labradorite. Anorthite appears to be the common 

 feldspar of meteorites, though others have been observed occasionally. The 

 chemical analysis shows that the rock contains no potash, but 2-86 per cent, 

 of soda, and this may have come from soda-bearing feldspar, as none of the 

 other minerals present are usually alkaline. Some of the chondri contain a 

 small quantity of glass, occasionally as a kind of nucleus, and in one case it 

 has apparently corroded the olivine crystal where it has been in contact with 

 it. This is the only evidence which I have been able to find which points to 

 a high temperature preceding the final consolidation of the meteorite. The 

 phenomenon is an isolated one, and the brecciated structure of the chondri 

 with their interior of larger fragments surrounded by a row of smaller ones, 

 as well as absence of melting on the edge of the fragments, distinctly sug- 

 gests that this has not been the case, or, if it has been, the rock has cooled 

 very quickly. I was unable to detect with certainty in the specimen at 

 my disposal any of the sulphides or native elements usually occurring in 

 meteorites, and no doubt it belongs to that class usuallv designated as 

 ' stonv.' " 



Dr. P. Marshall, Professor of Geology, Otago University, Dunedin, to 

 whom I gave a fragment of the stone, sent me the following remarks : 

 " As you anticipated, it proved a very difficult matter to make a section of 

 the piece of the meteorite that you gave me. However, I send you the 

 result. The clear crystals are olivine, and the spherules are, I fancy, formed 

 of radiating crystals of the same mineral. There is a very little native iron. 

 By far the greater portion appears to be magnetite. The magnet will lift 



