54 



California Art & Natute 



55 



The Mexican Ground Dove, a minia- 

 ture of tlie Mourning Dove, being but 

 little larger than a sparrow. These are 

 summer residents only, and are not 

 common on the California side of the 

 Colorado River. 



FRANK STEPHENS. 



MINERALS. 



ANTONITB— A talc-like mineral, 

 cent sulphuric acid. 



ACTINOLITE — Abundant in the 

 Colorado desert. 



AGATE — Occurs in various forms in 

 Southern California, but not in com- 

 mercial quantity. The world's supply 

 is principally received from Uruguay 

 and Brazil, which is mainly cut and 

 polished in Germany. 



ALABASTER— An abundance of ap- 

 parently good quality of this form of 

 gypsum occurs on the Colorado desert, 

 and in Baja California. 



ALLANITE— Named for T. Allen, 

 who discovered it among minerals from 

 East Greenland, contains the rare 

 metals cerium, didymium, glucinum, 

 lanthanum, and yttrium, together with 

 alumina, silica, lime, and iron, with 

 traces of magnesium, manganese, so:la, 

 copper, and water. This occurs in 

 Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and in 

 Southern California. 



ALMANDITE— Red garnets are not 

 rare in the California placer mines. 

 Some few crystals of gem value have 

 been produced in San Bernardino 

 county; the finest having been valued 

 as high as $50 apiece. In the placer 

 mines in Lower California the garnets 

 were formerly saved, and sold for $5 

 per pound — being popularly called 

 rubies — like the garnets of Arizona and 

 New Mexico, which are said to be 

 much superior to the "Cape Rubies" by 

 artificial light. 



ALUM — ^See kalinite. 



AMAZONSTONE— A beautiful semi- 

 precious stone of the feldspar group; 

 the finest specimens of which come 

 from Pike's Peak, Colorado. Has been 

 reported from Baja California, but I 

 have seen no specimens in proof. 



AMBER — See succinite. 



AMBLYGONITE — Associated with 

 lepidolite in the lithia mines of the 

 county. 



AMETHYST— Deep purple, bluish 

 violet fading almost into pink, crystal- 

 line variety of quartz. Colorado yields 

 many fine specimens. May be expected 

 to occur in some of the mines of the 

 Colorado desert. 



ANGLESITE— Sulphate of lead has 

 been reported from the Colorado de ert 

 in seme abundance; composition about 

 73.6 per cent oxide of lead, and 26.4 per 

 discovered in a copper mine at ?an An- 

 tonio, Baja California, not far froia 

 T«dos Santos bay. It was formerly 

 shipped to Nev/ York and used in tl e 

 manufacture of decorative papers. 



A RGENTITE— Silver glance is com- 

 posed of about 87.7 per cent silver and 

 12.9 per cent sulphur. One of the most 

 valuable of silver ores. 



APATITE- Phosphate of lime has 

 been reported from the property of the 

 San Jacinto tin mining compar;y. 



ASBESTOS— A four-foot vein seven 

 miles east of Elsinore, Cal., has beea 

 worked to a considerable extent, and 

 the product manufactn.red into b'i er 

 covering, etc. Other deposits exist in 

 the mountains bordering the Colorado 

 desert on the west, but the demand oi 

 this coast seems not to justify their 

 development at present. 



ASPHALTUM— Occurs native at var- 

 ious points along the coast from Pan 

 Diego northward. California p"0 u ed 

 in 1896 enarly 75,009 tons, worth aloat 

 half a million dollars. 



ATACAMITE— A nntiv? oxychlor'de 

 of copper, originally found in the form 

 of sand, in the desert of Atacama. be- 

 tween Chili and Peru. A specimen le- 

 ceived of Emiliano Ybarra from a 

 mine near Calmalli, Baja Ca'ifornia, 

 is identified as this species. 



AZURITE— "Mountain blue" (blue 

 carbonate of copper) occurs sparingly 

 in some of the copper mines of South- 

 ern California. One of the most beau- 

 tiful of copper ores, magnificent speci- 

 mens of which have been produced by 

 the copper mines of Arizona. Compo- 

 sition about 69.2 per cent copper oxide, 

 25.6 per cent carbonic acid, and 5.2 per 

 cent water. 



BARITE — Barytes or heavy spar is 

 composed of about 65.7 per cent baryta 

 and 34.3 per cent of sulphuric acid. The 

 present supply in the United States is 

 excessive of the demand. 



