Pisolitic Barite. 245 
ARTICLE IX.—PISOLITIC BARITE. 
By HERMAN WUESTNER, 
CURATOR OF MINERALS, CINCINNATI SOCIETY OF NATURAIL, HISTORY, 
CINCINNATI. 
Mr. B. P. THRASHER, residing at present at Saratoga, 
Texas, on October 24th last, sent to the Museum of the Cin- 
cinnati Society of Natural History, a few pellets of a mineral 
labeled as follows: ‘‘ From water strata, 1350 feet belcw sur 
face, at Saratoga, Hardin Co., Texas. Several barrels of them 
blown out by gas in boring for oul.” 
The specimens being turned over to me for examination, 
blowpipe analysis soon proved these pellets to consist of barite, 
a mineral which has never hitherto been recorded as occurring 
in pisolitic form. 
Dr. Josua Lindahl, Director of the Museum, wrote at once 
to Mr. Thrasher, asking him to send more abundant material 
for examination. In response, Mr. Thrasher forwarded about 
four ounces of the same material, declaring this was all that 
remained, all the rest of it having been left on the ground, 
whence it had now been washed away beyond recovery. He 
also supplemented his previous statements by giving the tem- 
perature of the water that brought up the pellets as 120° F. 
(about 49° C.), adding that this was the only instance where 
such material had been obtained at any oil boring in that 
region. 
Among the pellets were found a few fragments of a brown 
fossil of a porous, sponge-like structure and saturated with 
petroleum. These, too, proved to consist mainly of barite. 
One of them was sent to Dr. E. O. ULRicH, of the U. S. 
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., for possible indentifi- 
cation. Dr. Ulrich, kindly replying, states that the specimen 
is ‘‘ a fragment of one of the reef building corals,’’ and that 
Jour. CIN. Soc. Nat. HIst., VOL. XX, No. 6. PRINTED MARCH 5, 1906 
