METEORITES. 219 



rate in certain parts representing the spaces between the crystals of 

 the mass, but that under slow cooling wo may expect such a diiFusion 

 of the phosjihorus as would give no marked indications in any parts of 

 the mass. Notice is then made of the occurrence of protochlorido of 

 iron as a green mass in the meteoric iron from Eockingham Co., N. 

 Carolina (1871). E. B. T. 



TscHERMAK, G. Dcr Meteoritenfund bei Ovifak in Gronland. Min. 

 Mitt. Heft 3, pp. 165-174. 



Tshermak has examined two microscopic sections of the rocks accom- 

 panying the meteoric iron of Ovifak (1870), comparing them with 

 others cut from the meteorites of Jousac, Jurinas, Petersburg, aud 

 Stannern ; the latter chiefly consist of augite and anorthite, with little 

 or no nickel-iron, and form the class to which G. Eoso gave the name 

 of '•' eucritic." Both the sections have such a crust as meteorites pos- 

 sess ; but it is so altered by oxidation that it is not possible to deter- 

 mine whether it is the fused crust usually noticed on a meteorite. The 

 crystals of felspar (anorthite) are fully developed ; they penetrate, and 

 must have been formed, before the augite, iron, and magnetite. They 

 are transparent, and have few and large cavities filled partly with black 

 granules, partly with a brown substance, and some with a transparent 

 glassy substance. The augite is light greenish brown ; it fills gaps 

 between the other constituents, as in dolerites and diabases, and en- 

 closes black grains. In the section containing iron the colourless 

 felspar encloses a black or brown substance, or dust-like fine black 

 granules, or larger round transparent bodies of a violet colour. Side 

 by side with the felspar, brown grains, probably augite, are seen. Black 

 particles also occur semimetallic by reflected light, and probably mag- 

 netite, as well as others likewise black, but lustreless (? graphite). A 

 few small grains of troilite were also recognized. In the second section 

 the felspar- crystals were larger, the matrix being made up of finer 

 crj'stals ; and in some were cloudy pale-brown patches, due to number- 

 less minute elongated enclosed granules in parallel positions, or to others 

 shorter and more rounded. These appV^ances recall those noticed in 

 eucritic meteorites, except for the fact that these enclosed particles are 

 smaller. The larger cavities in the felspar are filled in the same 

 manner as in the other section. The structure of eucritic meteorites is 

 tufaceous; that of the Ovifak rock very compact. This distinction, 

 however, has often been observed in meteorites. Many chondritic 

 meteorites are tufaceous, while others, having similar chemical com- 

 position, are compact and crystalline. The augite of the Ovifak rocks 

 has not the characteristic filled cavities observed in that of certain 

 eucritic meteorites ; but in the augite of some meteorites they are 

 equally wanting. The meteorites of Ovifak in some respects resemble 

 the carbonaceous meteorites, though they diff'er from them in others, 

 especially in the appearance of both metallic and rocky portions. They 

 form a new type of meteoric rocks, and fill the gap that has separated 

 the carbonaceous from other meteorites. "W. P. 



