2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM. vol. 61. 



It is questionable to just which of the groups in the commonly ac- 

 cepted classification the iron should be referred. Its granular struc- 

 ture would naturally place it with the hexahedrites, but that there is 

 a total lack of evident cubic cleavage or Neuman lines. Its resem- 

 blance to the interior portion of the Bingara iron as figured by 

 Brezina is very close, but it lacks the other characteristics of the 

 hexahedrite group. On the other hand, it is practically indistinguish- 

 able from the granulated portions of the Forsyth County iron, which 

 is commonly classed as an ataxite. The locality in which the iron is 

 reported to have been found would naturally suggest its possible con- 

 nection with the Coahuila fall with which it is chemically almost 

 identical (see Cohen, Meteoreisen Studien III, p. 104) , but its struc- 

 tural dissimilarity is very evident to one at all conversant with these 

 matters. For the present, and until other portions are available for 

 study, I am inclined to class it as an ataxite of the Saratik group,, 

 though the high per cent (0.328) of phosphorus might, in some minds,, 

 raise a doubt. 



SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



(Cat. No. 611, U.S.N.M.) 



A small piece of this iron was sent the Museum early in August, 

 1919, accompanied by a letter from which the following is an abstract : 



Several years ago I was sitting in the shade of some willow trees at the 

 foot of the levee on No. 5 Canal at the point where it crosses the border 

 from Mexico to the United States. It was a hot day, about 3 p. m. and no 

 wind, when suddenly there was a rumble and a " woosh " (no other Vi'ord 

 seems to fit it) and a series of muffled explosions, wh:ch I at first thought was^ 

 an earthquake. Then the willow trees all bent toward the west, as though 

 there was a strong east wind, though I did not notice any wind. 



I ran up on the levee where I could see out. There was a long streak of 

 yellowish-green smoke, that started in the northeast and ended against the 

 side of the Sierra Madras just south of Signal Mountain — in other words 

 the streak started just north of east, over in Arizona, and ended just south 

 of west in Lower California. I realized that the muffled explosions came 

 from the mountain and that the streak of smoke was the trail of a meteor, 

 traveling not very high up, for the east end did not appear to be much higher 

 than the west end. The thing made so much disturbance that it attracted 

 the attention of almost everyone in the vicinity, and a great many prospectors 

 have looked for it since, one of them, a Mexican friend of mine, finally found 

 what I believe is the largest piece of it. It api>ears to be solid iron, though 

 a Denver, Colorado, assay office gives it a small amount of nickel. The piece 

 is the same general shape and size as the head of a yearling calf, and weighs 

 about 140 pounds. It is so malleable that you can not break the thin edge 

 with a hammer. 



The meteoric nature of the iron was easily recognized and steps 

 taken which it was expected would result in the acquisition of the 

 entire mass by the United States National Museum. Unfortunately, 

 through the intervention of a third party, these wishes were not 



