93 



REPORT 1870. 



meteoric rock by the name of Luceite. Like a similar distinct mincra 

 Montrejite, of which the meteorite of Moutrejeau is eutirely composed, it i 

 sometimes found imbedded in small portions in the darker mass of othe 

 aerolites. It it so found in the meteorites of St. Mesmin, of the Asturiat 

 and of Assam ; while its analogue, Montrejite, is found similarly distribute 

 in the meteorites of Canellas, Guttersloh, and Baflfe. The recognition of sue 

 a structure materially assists the classification of meteorites under commo 

 types, and suggests considerations regarding the process and sources fror 

 which they are derived. (" On the Meteorite of Motta dei Comti," b 

 Stanislas Meunier, ' Bulletin of the Moncalieri Observatory ' for March 1870." 

 From a collection of thirteen examples of the oolitic class of aerolites i 

 the Mineralogical Museum at Paris, M. Meunier obtains the foUowin 

 numbers of aerolitic falls of this peculiar class in the several months of th 

 year, showing that meteorites of the same tj^o are not confined to singl 

 orbits or to single rings of meteoric materials encompassing the sun, but ar 

 found in the same regions of space with meteorites of other types. (Lette 

 from M. Meunier to Mr. 11. P. Greg.) 



Lodran, Moultan, India, 1868, October 1st. 



Specimens of this aerolite in the Mineralogical Museum of Vienna wer 

 analyzed by Dr. G. Tschermak, the results of whose chemical investigations 

 together with a notice of a specimen of meteoric iron from the desert o 

 Atacama, presented to the Museum, is contained in the ' Proceedings of th' 

 Vienna Imperial Academy of Sciences ' for 1870, April 7th. 



Krahenberg, near Zweibriicken, Bavaria, 1869, May 5th, 6'' 30" p.m. 

 (Keport 1869, p. 278.) 



In the ' Proceedings of the Vienna Imperial Academy ' for 1870, April 28th 

 M. von Haidinger produces fresh proofs of the rotation of meteorites on thei: 

 axes, and of their orientation, or presenting front and rear faces to thi 

 atmosphere during the luminous portions of their descent to the earth, an( 

 some remarks on the original formation of siderites in veins of meteori' 

 rocks, as illustrated by the meteorite of Krahenberg, and by the large ring- 

 shaped siderite of Ainsa-Tucson preserved in the collection of the Smithsoniai 

 Institute in America. M. von Haidinger in the same paper explains thi 

 appearance of meteoric iron-masses in pairs, first pointed out by Professo: 

 W. H. Miller of Cambridge, in the siderites of Agram, Braunau, and Cran- 

 bourne, Australia, and in the description of the historical iron-masses whicl 

 fell at Troy, by supposing that the fusion of their surface by the fireball 

 which might first perforate and produce a ring-shaped meteorite, might i 

 continued further divide the ring at one point and cause it to break &• 

 another by the resistance of the air. Attention is also drawn to th< 

 occurrence and apparent frequency of veins in the geology of meteoric rocks 

 first pointed out in his note of 1868, October 8th (see these Keports for 1869, 



