"138 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
markable features have been lost sight of. Concerning 
these meteoric materials not the least instructive consid- 
eration is their seemingly wonderful abundance. During 
the past decade or two literally thousands of meteoric 
masses have been gathered from the district. In Ari- 
zona the search for ‘‘meteoric stones’’ and ‘‘nickel-irons”’ 
constitutes an important branch of the local ‘‘curiosity 
business.’’ For many years one Indian trader of the 
region has employed numbers of men and boys to look 
for ‘‘heavy stones’’ and ‘‘green stones’’; and he has dis- 
posed of large numbers of the small specimens besides 
numbers of large masses. It was through this and other 
indefatigable collectors of the neighborhood that the me- 
teoric finds were first brought to the notice of the scien- 
tific world. 
According to the written accounts of the Canyon Diablo 
falls few of the meteoric masses were found within the 
erateriform depression of the Coon Butte. From the 
country about, within a radius of a score of miles, the 
large majority of the masses found are reported. The 
Indian trader’s collecting grounds are much more ex- 
tensive. In its general bearing this wide distribution is 
of far-reaching importance. 
That Canyon Diablo, or Coon Butte, should appear to 
be the center of a meteoric shower is partly illusory, 
partly due to accidental circumstances, and partly a re- 
sult of incomplete observation. The phenomenon is 
neither isolated nor strictly local, but, as will be shown 
later, one of wide prevalency. In the Coon Butte area 
the meteoric masses have been collected more industri- 
ously than elsewhere. The hard limestone floor of the 
plain, constantly swept bare of its soils, permits meteoric 
stones to remain indefinitely exposed on the surface of 
the ground. The small amount of chemical decay going 
on is merely sufficient to impart to the nickeliferous irons 
or stones a slight greenish tinge which enables them to 
be easily recognized among the myriads of pebbles strew- 
ing the surface of the ground. With proper investigation 
