346 GEORGE F. KUNZ 



turies, but is of rare occurrence, and most of that used in jewelry 

 and in the arts has been obtained from Silesia. Its existence 

 in North America had been recognized at some points before, 

 but the only promising locality was at Riddles, Douglas 

 county, Oreg. Mr. George W. Smith, a surveyor, obtained 

 specimens in Tulare county, Cal., as far back as 1878. These he 

 submitted to experts, who pronounced them to be true chrys- 

 oprase. The first who positively identified them as such, by 

 actual determination of the nickel oxide, was Mr. M. Braver- 

 man, of Visalia, Tulare county, who is well known for his 

 enthusiasm in locating and collecting California minerals. 

 From that time specimens were gathered and sent quite widely 

 to museums and cabinets ; but not for some years was its com- 

 mercial value appreciated. When that became known, sys- 

 tematic development was attempted, the neighborhood was 

 prospected, and other occurrences discovered, so that now 

 there are not fewer than five localities in Tulare county where 

 chrysoprase is known to occur. The first of these to be dis- 

 covered was the one at Venice Hill, 12 miles northeast of 

 Visalia ; the others are on Stokes mountain, on the Tule river, on 

 Deer creek, and at Lindsay, 16 miles south of Visalia. Mr. 

 Braverman has been active in the search for these localities, 

 and has presented to the California state mining bureau a very 

 fine specimen from the last named place. The veins which it 

 forms are of no great thickness, and much of the material is 

 flawed and cracked, or too pale to be valuable. Still a large 

 quantity of fine chrysoprase has been obtained and cut from 

 these several localities, especially the last two and the first. 



A promising locality has been discovered in North Caro- 

 lina, at Morganhill, in Buncombe county, some 16 miles from 

 Asheville. Here it occurs in several parallel seams or veins quite 

 near to each other; the color is pale at the surface, but becomes 

 deeper below. No extensive work has yet been done here, 

 although some very rich green material has been cut and 

 placed on the market, and the outlook is favorable. 



The name moss agate is applied to a variety of translucent 

 chalcedony, usually nearly colorless, that is penetrated by 

 minute branching or dendritic (tree like) crystallizations of 

 oxide of manganese or of iron, the former black, the latter brown 



