SOME RECENT ACCESSIONS TO THE MINERAL COLLEC- 

 TIONS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSELT^I. 



By William F. Foshag, 



Assistant Curator in charge of Mineral Collections, United States National Museum. 



During the last two years the Department of Mineralogy of the 

 United States National kuseiim has acquu-ed, niainly through gifts, 

 material of especial nierit. The specimens listed below do not cover 

 the entire number of exceptional materials presented by friends of 

 the museum, but only some of the very finest. These notes do not 

 contain any new data, bu*; are simply intended to call attention to 

 these exceptional specimens. 



One of the most remarkable specimens acquired in recent years 

 is a group of cinnabar crystals (U. S. Nat. Mus. 93261), presented by 

 Mr. Nelson T. Johnson, United States consul at Changsha, China. 

 The locality is Hunan Province, China. Specimens of cinnabar from 

 here have been known for some time, but because of the intermittent 

 working of the mines few specimens have found their way into Europe 

 and the United States. The one obtained by Mr. Nelson is perhaps 

 the finest in the United States. It consists of a mass of crystallized 

 quartz, the crystals ranging up to 3 millimeters. L^pon the face of 

 the specimen are eight brilliant, deep red penetration twins of cinnabar 

 averaging over 3 centimeters in size. In the cavities and scattered 

 over other portions of the specimen are a number of smaller ones. 

 The brilliancy of the cr3^stals and theu- deep red color contrast 

 strongly with the line ch-usy background of quartz. The lower 

 figure on plate 18 shows the specimen in natural size. 



Hunan has also become famous for its arsenic minerals. Mr. 

 Ralph W. Weymouth presented to the museum several of these, 

 among which was a mass of pure arsenolite (U. S. Nat. Mus. 93432), 

 weighing almost a kilogram. It is a portion of a crust 7 centimeters 

 thick and banded with narrow layers of red. The upper crust is 

 partially covered with a layer of native arsenic. 



One of the largest and finest scheclite ciystals ever found has been 

 donated to the museum by Mr. J. Morgan Clements.* The locality 

 is Ryu do, Chushihoku Province, Korea. It is a simple pyramidal 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 58-No. 2337. 



303 



