Professor T. G. Bonnet/ — On Rocks from Ararat. 57 



11,000 feet above sea-level, and its passes 7,000 to 8,500 feet.^ 

 It was crossed by a pass south of Kars (slightly to the west), from 

 some part of which these specimens must have come (see vol. i, 

 ch. xx). The rocks are said to be granite, diabase, etc. 



A fairly coarse gneissoid rock (L, 2) is composed of quartz, pale 

 pinkish buff felspar, and a green mineral. Under the microscope 

 it is seen to consist of quartz, felspar (plagioclase apparently 

 predominating), and a green chlorite. The rock, on examination 

 with crossed nicols, seems to have been much modified by pressure, 

 although now it is completely cemented. The larger grains of quartz 

 have a fragmental aspect, and much of the mineral proves to be 

 a mosaic of small grains, with a slightly streaky arrangement. 

 The felspar has the same aspect, and some of the crystals are 

 breaking up into a mosaic of small granular felspars with a few 

 flakes of white mica, the latter occurring elsewhere in the slide, 

 though sparingly. The green mineral is apparently a chlorite, and 

 there are also two small garnets and one or two zircons. From its 

 general aspect I should consider the rock to be very old, as con- 

 siderable minei'al changes have occurred since it was acted upon by 

 pressure. 



Two specimens of a compact dull reddish-purple rock. It is 

 found, under the microscope, to consist of long microlithic crystals 

 of plagioclase felspar imbedded in a ferrite-stained base, and is not 

 in a good state of preservation. Probably it comes near to the 

 basalts, and formerly would have been called a melaphyre. The 

 specific gravity is 2'709. A veined specimen appears, from the 

 label, to be connected with this, though the rock itself is greener in 

 colour, more like the next in order. The vein chiefly consists of 

 calcite and epidote, with some iron staining. 



A compact dull green rock (K), slightly veined with calcite, 

 which forms jagged ridges, between Kagizman and Karakilisa, 

 running like walls from north to south. Under the microscope it is 

 found chiefly to consist of two minerals, the most abundant, green, 

 probably a hornblende ; the other, clear and colourless, most likely 

 replacing a felspar. Iron - oxides and some small sphenes are 

 present. The rock may be named a diabase, probably'' forming 

 dykes. 



Mr. Lynch brought back about a dozen specimens representing 

 rocks which had attracted his notice during the rest of his journey, 

 the majority being limestones from the neighbourhood of Lake Van. 

 But as he returned to this district during his second journey, 

 I have transferred my description of them to Mr. Oswald, with the 

 .jexception of two specimens of a serpentine which my interest in that 

 rock induces me to publish. One, with the label " On the road 

 behind Akhtamar (Lake Van), "is a dark-green serpentine with some 

 lighter streaks and with oblique slickensided surfaces, sometimes 

 partially coated with cream-coloured or green steatite, giving to the 

 specimen a rather lenticular form. Under the microscope the 



^ See Lynch, "Armenia," vol. i, p. 414 et seq., and toI. ii, p. 384. 



