138 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



markable features have been lost sight of. Concerning 

 these meteoric materials not the least instructive consid- 

 eration is their seemingly wonderful abundance. During 

 the past decade or two literally thousands of meteoric 

 masses have been gathered from the district. In Ari- 

 zona the search for "meteoric stones" and "nickel-irons" 

 constitutes an important branch of the local "curiosity 

 business." For many years one Indian trader of the 

 region has employed numbers of men and boys to look 

 for "heavy stones" and "green stones"; and he has dis- 

 posed of large numbers of the small specimens besides 

 numbers of large masses. It was through this and other 

 indefatigable collectors of the neighborhood that the me- 

 teoric finds were first brought to the notice of the scien- 

 tific world. 



According to the written accounts of the Canyon Diablo 

 falls few of the meteoric masses were found within the 

 crateriform depression of the Coon Butte. From the 

 country about, within a radius of a score of miles, the 

 large majority of the masses found are reported. The 

 Indian trader's collecting grounds are much more ex- 

 tensive. In its general bearing this wide distribution is 

 of far-reaching importance. 



That Canyon Diablo, or Coon Butte, should appear to 

 be the center of a meteoric shower is partly illusory, 

 partly due to accidental circumstances, and partly a re- 

 sult of incomplete observation. The phenomenon is 

 neither isolated nor strictly local, but, as will be shown 

 later, one of wide prevalency. In the Coon Butte area 

 the meteoric masses have been collected more industri- 

 ously than elsewhere. The hard limestone floor of the 

 plain, constantly swept bare of its soils, permits meteoric 

 stones to remain indefinitely exposed on the surface of 

 the ground. The small amount of chemical decay going 

 on is merely sufficient to impart to the nickeliferous irons 

 or stones a slight greenish tinge which enables them to 

 be easily recognized among the myriads of pebbles strew- 

 ing the surface of the ground. With proper investigation 



