THE ONYX MARBLES. 581 



wax yellow color is found in caverns at Malaga, in Spain. When cut 

 across the bedding it shows veins of two very i)leasing tints, but 

 when cut parallel it shows only large, confused, cloudy areas (taohes 

 embroueUies), and is not nearly as beautiful. The Palais at Madrid is 

 decorated with this stone. C. P. Brard, in his Mineralogic Appliquee 

 aux Arts, 1821 (p. 396), describes the onyx marbles as cave deposits, 

 and seems never to have heard of their occurrence as hot-spring 

 deposits. Under this head he describes, very brieliy, clouded white, 

 limpid to opaque varieties, sometimes of a beautiful green tint, from 

 Arcena, in Andalusia, Spain. The translucent varieties were the 

 soundest and most esteemed by the ancients (whoever they may have 

 been). He also speaks (p. 402) of a honey yellow, almost transparent 

 variety from the isle of Malta, and which was used in making statues 

 of large size. Other varieties are also found on this island, one of a 

 clear yellow color, veined with white, or white variegated with black, 

 or brown and white. This same authority further states that a brown 

 "alabaster" with clearer veins, and which receives a beautiful polish, 

 is found in the territory of Saguna, in Sicily, and near Montreal and 

 Caputa other varieties, with lively red and yellowish veins or clear 

 yellow and white. A white variety with yellow and red veins is found 

 at Mount Pellegrino and a yellowish one at Bactia, in Corsica. 

 Unfortunately, this author's descriptions are meager, and the use of the 

 name alabaster, as already noted, is so misleading that we can not in all 

 cases discriminate, and it is possible some of the stones here mentioned 

 may be true alabaster (gypsum). 



Pliny* writes of a white alabaster, which is i)resumably a true car- 

 bonate, as occurring at Damascus, in Syria. He compares it with that 

 found near Thebes (Syout?) , in Egypt, but of a white color. The most 

 next esteemed variety, he states, is that of Carmania (Carmoua, in 

 Spain?), and the least that of Cappadocia, in Asia Minor. Next to 

 that of Carmania he considers a product of a locality, not mentioned, 

 in India, as of greatest value, and places that of Syria as third in the 

 list. 



CATALOGUE OF ON'YX MARBLES IX THE COLLECTIOX OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



No. 67549. A series of five slabs, varying from 8 by 10 inches to 28 by 34 inches, cut 

 parallel and across the plane of deposition. Original colors green, but indi- 

 vidual slabs showing various stages of oxidation. Three large slabs, 28 by 34 

 inches, were all cut from the same block, originally some 10 inches thick and sup- 

 posed to be nearly uniform throughout, but proving to be so thoroughly oxidized 

 in certain portions as to yield slabs with but a few square inches of green still 

 showing on the polished surface. (See pis. 5, 6, and 7). From the Big Bug 

 Quarries, Mayers Station, Yavapai County, Arizona. Collected by George P. 

 Merrill. 1891. 



Pliny, Natural History, Book xxxvi, chap. 12. 



