22 Annals of the South African Museum. 



Fletcher regards the four first-named and the iron here de- 

 scribed as five independent occurrences; he adds, however, " Some 

 of the above Namaqualand masses may have been transported 

 from the same locaHty." Wiilfing takes Gi-eat Namaqualand, 

 Great Fish Eiver, and Springbok Eiver as being the same.* 

 Brezina unites those from Great Namaqualand and Great Fish 

 Eiver only, while from the evidence afforded by a specimen in the 

 Siemaschko Collection, he unites those from Springbok Eiver and 

 Orange Eiver. f Gregory, on the contrary, states that his own 

 specimen from Springbok Eiver is very like that from Lion Eiver, 

 which, however, does not necessarily imply that they are the same.]: 



The iron labelled " Cabaya, grosser Fischfluss," in the Tiibingen 

 Collection, which was kindly sent to me for inspection by Professor 

 Koken, turns out to be a pseudo-meteorite, with a structure, how- 

 ever, which does not essentially differ from that of some meteorites. 

 On etching, the cut surface (3 sq. cm.) resolves into angular, sharply 

 defined grains, with a system of deep etching-lines which resemble 

 those of Neumann, and produce a strong orientated sheen on the 

 alternating groups of grains. This iron therefore resembles those 

 hexahedral irons which consist of an aggregate of hexahedral 

 grains. § It has already been compared by Brezina with those 

 portions of the Hollands Store iron characterised by a finely granular 

 structure, though he also adds the remark, " May it not be pig 

 iron?" II This query induced me to break off a small piece and 

 test it for nickel. As not even a trace of this metal was found, I 

 am forced to regard the substance as an artificial product. This 

 specimen is interesting as showing that mere examination of the 

 structure does not always suffice to distinguish artificial from 

 meteoric iron. Eeichenbach, who had no doubt as to its meteoric 

 origin, laid stress on the orientated sheen of the grains as well as on 

 the absence of needles and " combs " in the plessite." If 



The Gottingen specimen, catalogued as from the Great Fish Eiver, 

 was generously placed at my disposal by Professor Liebisch, and 

 proved on etching to be apiece of the Cape of Good Hope iron (1793) 



* Die Meteoriten in Sammlungen und ihxe Literatur nebst einem Versuch den 

 Tauschwert der Meteoriten zu bestimmen, 131-132. Tiibingen, 1897. 



t i.e., 277, 348, and 357. 



\ Catalogue of the Collection of Meteorites of James R. Gregory, of London, 

 p. 17. London, 1889. 



§ Quenstedt gives a somewhat diagrammatic reproduction of the etched sur- 

 face. (Klar und Wahr, 315. Tiibingen, 1872.) 



II i.e., 329. 



IT tjber die niihern Bestandtheile des Meteoreisens. Pogg. Ann. d. Physik 

 u. Chemie, 1861, cxiv. 273 ; 1862, cxv. 150 and 155. 



