132 THE MINERALS OF TASMANIA. 



Hampshire Hills and west of the Blythe Eiver; it is 

 found in combination with a large deposit of magnetic iron 

 ore. The blades of this mineral, if they occurred without 

 cleavage plane, could be obtained up to nearly 2 feet in 

 length. The colour of the mineral is a very dark green 

 to almost black. To the south-east of the Hampshire 

 Hills a peculiar fibrous brown variety occurs : it is found 

 in masses having much the appearance and structure of 

 crocidolite from South Africa, and examples have been 

 broken out measuring above 1 foot in length. At the 

 Heazlewood an extensive mass occurs which is many feet 

 in thickness ; it occurs as aciculated crystals, intermixed 

 with chlorite, which are interlaced, forming an almost 

 solid compact rock of a pale asparagus-green colour. On 

 the western side of the Heazlewood River a dark-grey 

 coloured form has been found in considerable quantity. 



Abundant near the Madame Melba Mine, North Dun- 

 das; at the Upper Arthur River it forms a rock of fine 

 texture and intense black colour; at the head of the 

 Savage River it occurs in large quantity as a rock of 

 medium texture and dark colouration ; at Dundas semi- 

 serpentinised hornblende occurs, as well as the character- 

 istic form. 



Found at the Mt. Ramsay Bismuth Mine frequently in 

 long prismatic blade-like crystals, showing the combina- 

 tion of the unit prism, minus pyramid and basal plane; 

 generally intergrown with pyrrhotite. Also in similarly 

 developed small crystals in the drift of the Emu River, and 

 of some creeks draining into the latter in the neighbour- 

 hood of Hampshire Hills. The common black amphibole, 

 containing aluminium, or pargasite, with the non-aluminous 

 species tremolite and actinolite, have already been 

 recorded (Catalogue of the " Minerals of Tasmania, 1896 "), 

 but there are several others occurring in this island which 

 have not so far been satisfactorily identified. 



At the Hampshire Hills a remarkably developed black 

 amphibole occurs. It is in large crystals, which often 

 reach several inches in length, and is closely associated 

 with pyrophyllite and amethyst. In thin section under 

 the microscope it is dark sombre-green and yellowish-green, 

 according to the orientation. Intensely pleochroic C=t > > a. 

 Extinction angle about 14^. Crystallisation irregularly 

 prismatic and flaky, structure poicilitic, enclosing apatite, 

 fluor, iron oxide, &c., and pierced with quartz grains; 

 often surrounds felspar plates. Professor Rosenbusch, in 

 a, letter under date January 12, 1899, mentions this min- 



