THE MUSEUM 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. VI. 



ALBION, N. Y., FEBRUARY 15, 1900 



No. 4 



A Monthly Magazine devoted to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences . 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items of interest on above top- 

 ics, as well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 handling and keeping of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits of various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



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The New Almaden Mines. 



Perhaps it would be of interest to 

 the mineral collectors who read the 

 Museum to know something about the 

 richest quicksilver mine in America, in 

 fact the second in the world, the rich- 

 est being those of Almaden in Spain. 



The new Almaden mines of which 

 I am to tell about are situated fifteen 

 miles south of San Jose, in Santa Clara 

 county, California. I hey are owned 

 by the Quicksilver Mining Company of 

 New York, who have 8, 500 acres of 

 land on which are the mines, reduc- 

 tion works and three villages — Hacien- 

 da, New Almaden and Spanishtown. 



The mines are worked at a depth of 



2, 500 feet and the under ground work- 

 ings are said to be over seventy miles 

 in extent. Six shafts are in operation, 

 which can be said are six different 

 mines under one management, besides 

 more than that number have already 

 been worked out and abondoned. 



The ore in these mines occur in 

 shoots and bunches along the contact 

 of serpentine and shales in which the 

 vein matter is mostly serpentine, in 

 which some portions of the vein is full 

 of rich cinnabar, while in other por- 

 tions it contains very little, the cinna- 

 bar being only in seams. Burleigh 

 drills are used on account of the hard- 

 ness of the rock, and it is found with 

 depth as the vein matter becomes har- 

 der the less metal it contains. 



After the ore is hoisted from the 

 mines it is loaded on cars and conveyed 

 by an incline track 700 feet long to 

 the reduction works at Hacienda, 

 which consist of eight furnaces that 

 are said to include the most improved 

 methods for reducing mercury ore. 



The timbers used at these mines are 

 of red wood 10x10 to 20x20. Coal is 

 used for fuel in the hoisting works, 

 while wood is used in the reduction 

 works, as it gives better satisfaction. 

 About 600 men are employed in and 

 about the mines. 



These deposits were first worked in 

 1845, an d since 1850 have produced 

 over 950,000 flasks or 72,670,000 

 pounds of mercury. 



Hybridish in Mollusca. 



The January number of the Journal 

 of Conchology contains some very in- 

 teresting notes on a series of experi- 

 ments conducted by Mr. George W. 

 Chaster of England. He says as fol- 



