178 TRANSACTIONS. 
never been fortunate enough to find any ; I have been shown cut 
stones of very good colour and transparency, said to have been 
found in the district, and have no reason to believe they were not 
so. The crystals from the west side of Criffel are often large, 
showy specimens, very suitable for rockeries, &c., for which they 
are used. Smoky Quartz is not so abundant ; I have found some 
tolerably clear crystals up the burn behind Kinharvy House, which, 
no doubt, came from the Psilomelane vein. Ordinary quartz 
crystals are found in many parts of the district ; no very good ones, 
so far as I know, are to be had except at Wanlockhead, where 
good specimens can be obtained. Calcite is, of course, found in 
many localities ; I have found very good specimens at Black Craig 
mine, and fair ones have heen got at Arbigland. Very fine Calcites 
are found at Wanlockhead. A vein of Molybnite was at one time 
worked to a small extent at Almorness Head, Buittle ; I have 
little doubt it was worked under the idea that it was graphite, 
which it somewhat resembles. Many mistakes of this kind are 
made from ignorance, and much money consequently thrown away. 
I have on several occasions seen bright yellow scales of Mica and 
pieces of Iron Pyrites sent from-abroad under the idea they were 
gold ; and one of those so-called “mining experts” told me he 
was sure I “had a mine of wealth on Cargen,” and advised me to 
bore for coal! Some years ago a firm of iron and coal proprietors, 
under the advice of one of these quacks, spent several thousand 
pounds in the vain hope of finding lodes of Hematite on a property 
in this immediate neighbourhood. It has been said, and even 
stated in some publications, that Platinum was found in the water 
of Urr, near Dalbeattie ; from all I can ascertain, this statement is 
utterly unfounded. Pyrrhotine, it is also stated, has been found 
on Criffel; I have never come across it, but Magnetite is 
occasionally found there, and in other places in the district. At 
Glendinning, in Eskdalemuir, an Antimony mine was at one time 
worked, and I hear it is, or about to be, re-opened ; if so, some 
interesting minerals are likely to be again obtained; besides 
Antimonite and Cervantite, in the old heaps I found Valentinite— 
the first time, I think, this mineral has been found in Britain ; at 
least, there is no mention of it as being a British mineral in any 
mineralogical work ; I also obtained some interesting Pseudomorphs 
there—Cervantite after Valentinite, and Cervantite after Anti- 
monite. An Antimony mine on the south spur of Hare Hill, 
between Kirkconnel and New Cumnock, was at one time worked ; 
