242 MINEEALOGY. 



Maskeltne, Prof. N. S., and Dr. W. Flight, On the character of 



the Diamantiferous rock of South Africa. Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. 



vol. XXX. pp. 406-416, woodcut. 



Contains analyses of bronzite, smaragdite, altered hronzite, and 



vaalite, ffom the South- African diamond-bearing rocks. Vaalite is a 



new species belonging to the vermiculite group, named from the Yaal 



river. The mineMis clinorhombic, with easy cleavage parallel to 001. 



Its formula is given as It.Og . SiO, + 2(3MgO . 2SiO, . 2H,0). F. W. R. 



Meehan, T. Description of a hollow cylinder of Carbonate of Lime 

 showing concentric coats, which seemed to have been formed round 

 a branch of a tree. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philadel. p. 2QQ, 



Meeedith, Hon. C. On Tin-ore from Mount BischoiF, Tasmania. 

 Monthly Notices Eoy. Soc. Tasm. for 1873, pp. 21, 22. 



The condition and appearance of certain specimens of the Mount- 

 Bischoff tin-ore indicated that they had been obtained from a lode in 

 place, in which they differed from the usual waterworn specimens of 

 the Queensland and New-South-Wales tin-fields. R. E., Jun. 



MiETZscH, Dr. H. Ueber die Farbe des Strichpulvers mancher 

 Kohlen. [Colour of the powder of many of the Coals.] Yerh. 

 k..k. geol. Reichs. pp. 364, 365. 

 Points out that many varieties of coal exhibit differences of*, colour 

 when powdered, and that these differences do not correspond with dif- 

 ferences of geological age. H. A. N. 



MiLLEE, W. H. On Quartz, Ice, and Karstenite. Phil. Mag. 

 ser. 4, vol. xlvii. pp. 122-126. 



Quartz : Crystallographic descriptions of two crystals from an un- 

 known locality, each of which exhibits one face of a rhombohedron 

 probably never observed before. The symbol of the new face is believed 

 to be 50 19 19. Ice: Experiments on the fracture of plates of 

 ice show that they may be separated both parallel to the surfaces and 

 normal to them, but that the separation is due to the existence of faces 

 of union and not to true cleavage. Karstenite : Crystals traversing a 

 cavity in the interior of a mass of Karstenite from Liineberg exhibited, 

 in addition to several of the forms observed by Hessenberg, faces of the 

 foUowing new forms— 430, 150, 520, 530. F, W. R. 



MtJLLEE, C. J. On some Black Crystals from Beachy Head. Papers 

 Eastbourne Nat. Hist. Soc. 1873-74, p. 9. 



These are small pointed crystals of carbonate of lime (Dog's-tooth 

 spar), coating the ordinary colourless rhombohedral calcite found in the 

 TJ. Greensand. Before the blowpipe they become white, showing the 

 presence of carbon and the absence of metallic oxides. A microscopic 

 examination of the black residue (after treatment with hydrochloric 

 acid) showed small fragments of what the author regards as vegetable 

 tissue, broken up and carbonized. The carbonaceous matter permeates 

 the whole crystal. • W. W. 



