6 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



finer and sharper than those of any other specimen in the Harvard 

 coUectiou. They consist of thin plates closely packed together, not 

 exceeding half a millimeter in thickness, but sharply defined by their 

 border lines of bright uickeliferous iron. These plates as seen in 

 section exhibit beautiful Neumann lines, the same as the border iron 

 previously described, and appear to be of a piece vpith it. A slight 

 suggestion of a similar crystallization is given by the Pallas iron, but 

 the specimen at tlie author's disposal is not large enough for a thorough 

 comparison. In cutting the large Kiowa County mass, the saw passed 

 through portions of iron of considerable area, and in etching one of 

 these nodules the plates were brought out in their greatest perfection. 



The appearance of the Widmanstattian figures is best shown by 

 Figure 3, Plate II., which is printed directly from the iron. Unfor- 

 tunately, the i)rinting does not bring out the Neumann lines on the 

 border iron, though they are suggested in some parts of the illustra- 

 tion, but the ireneral character and distribution of the Widmanstattian 

 plates is very fairly shown. One peculiarity, however, does not exist 

 in the slab from which the plate was printed, and though it only occurs 

 in two or three places, yet, as it has not been observed in any other 

 meteorite, it is worthy of note in this connection. Ordinarily in the 

 pallasites the olivine is surrounded by a layer of iron, as if the iron 

 had been depo^^ited on the olivine as a nucleus ; but in some of the 

 specimens of the Kiowa County the plates of iron which form the 

 AVidmanstiittian figures actually project into the olivine crystals, as if 

 the two had solidified simultaneously. It is common here, as in other 

 pallasites, for little plates of iron to separate two crystals of olivine ; but 

 in the specimen under discussion there are cases where the Widman- 

 sttlttian plates cross the natural boundary line of the iron and project 

 out into the olivine crystals, and intersect each other at the octahedral 

 angle apparently wholly independent of the presence of the olivine. 

 Occasionally, too, a little plate of iron is seen isolated from the rest, 

 and in the very centre of a nodule of olivine. No cases were ob- 

 served where the Widmanstattian plates actually cut through the 

 olivine crystals so as to connect with the iron on the opposite side, 

 but they projected into the crystals several millimeters. 



Finally, by far the most striking and characteristic feature of the 

 Kiowa County pallasite is the abumlant occurrence of chromite. This 

 mineral is easily confused with the dark olivine described in an earlier 

 part of this paper, since the mode of occurrence is exactly the same, 

 and on a polished surface the only difTerence is that the chromite has a 

 more metallic lustre, and is more opaque. Chromite is widely dis- 



