ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY 66 
the form of the nodules. Such rocks are in many places dis- 
tinctly banded and were long considered siliceous sedimeuts, 
but by the investigations of Wadsworth, Williams, Bascom 
and others it has been definitely settled that they are all acid 
volcanics. ‘These rocks in North Carolina are regarded by 
Mr. Holmes as pre-Cambrian and since their eruption may 
have undergone great changes like those of the South Moun- 
tain described by Miss Bascom. Some of the supposed fossils 
are certainly spherulites, and all of them may have been orig- 
inally. Some broken forms show motion in the mass after 
the spherulites were developed. That Paleotrochis, where 
most perfectly developed and composed of granular quartz, is 
the result of deposition, after the spherulitic growths about it 
and within it had developed, there can be no question, but 
whether this deposition followed soon after that of the spher- 
liutes in the course of solidification or took place in hollow 
spherulites (lithophyse), or resulted perhaps long subse- 
quently at the time of rock alterations, is not so clear. All 
this and much more will doubtless be cleared up by the mem- 
bers of the Geological Survey of North Carolina, who were 
the first to correctly identify the rock and the character of 
the supposed fossil. 
None of the Mexican specimens received from Prof. Wil- 
liams were cut for microscopical examination. Some of them 
were clearly of igneous origin, and contained amygdules. 
The Paleotrochis-like forms with radial markings appeared 
to be composed of secondary Quartz and probably originated 
as those of North Carolina. 
About a year ago bi-conical forms like Paleotrochis were 
presented by Mr. Kochibi, Director of the of the Geological 
Survey of Japan to the U. S, Geological Survey. These spec- 
imens are now in the National Museum, and are much more 
regular in form, size, and general appearance than the Paleo- 
throchis of North Carolina. They are of a pale pink color 
with regular bi-conical, striated forms, and in some cases 
have shallow pits of the apices, They are known in Japanas 
‘* Sorobanishi” or abacus stones, One of these specimens con- 
