90 Notice of New Localities of Sahlite, Coccolite, &c. 
variety of it called sahlite, being universally composed of 
lamine parallel to the base, the thickness of which can be 
easily seen by the naked eye on the surface of the crystal. 
When first taken from the earth, they broke with great 
ease, and the greatest care could not prevent many from 
being ‘broken into short crystals, the lamine exhibiting a 
smooth green surface of extraordinary beauty. On expo- 
sure they soon hardened, and when perfectly dry they be~- 
came entirely firm. ‘They can yet be divided however 
with facility not only parallel to the base but to the sides of 
the primitive prism. They are all eight sided prisms, but 
sometimes the truncations on the edges of the primitive 
are so slight, that without close inspection they appear to 
be truly four sided, and occasionally from one truncation 
being very deep, they look like triangular prisms, but both 
these instances occur relatively in few instances. None of 
them are tabular. ‘Their summits consist of from four to 
eight faces, varying in magnitude, though most commonly 
the faces on two contiguous sides of the primitive prism are 
much larger than the others, and not unfrequently a face 
arising from the truncated edge between the two above 
mentioned sides, equals and even far exceeds the two ad- 
joining ones. The angles and edges are defined with un- 
usual precision, being as sharp and smooth as those of 
quartz. ‘The surfaces are smooth and have a brilliant lus- 
tre. They exhibit no longitudinal strie; but frequently 
parallel to the base and corresponding to the lamine are 
deep depressions resembling a flight of steps, as if the la- 
min had been slipped alittle. ‘Their size varies from that 
of extreme minuteness, to that of five or six inches in cir- 
cumference. Their length may be said to vary in general 
from three fourths of an inch to three inches; but some are 
both longer and larger. J] bave one which is nearly szx inches 
long, and ten tnches in circumference with a very flat sum- 
mit of four faces, one of them covering nearly the whole 
end of the crystal. This crystal is somewhat flattened. 
Baron Lederer, has one which, though but three inches 
long, is fourteen inches in circumference. Itis a fragment 
without a summit, and was probably a good deal longer be- 
fore it was dug out; but it was broken before discovered. 
These two. and one other nearly the size of the latter were 
found by Mr. KE. C. Benedict a few feet from the place 
