Cox. — On the Mineralogy of Neiv Zealand. 427 



examination has been to show that in the Bismuth ore from the granite 

 district of Beaver County, Utah, this mineral is largely represented, and 

 moreover, in a rock which very closely resembles the one from CoUingwood. 



Mr. Skey has tested this rock for Bismuth, but has not been able to 



detect the presence of this valuable metal ; as, however, only two small 



specimens were forwarded, and these were taken from the outcrop, it by no 



means proves that a similar association may not occur here, and a careful 



examination of the rock in question may lead to valuable results. 



Metallic Minerals. — Class II. 



Metals brittle, easily fusible and volatile. 



Arsenic. 



This metal has only been found in New Zealand in a native state, in the 

 form of arsenical pyrites, and in one instance as Dufrenoysite, a description 

 of which will appear under the lead ores. 



Native Arsenic. — The first mention of this mineral in New Zealand is 

 by Dr. Hector (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. ii., p. 368), where he states that it 

 occurs at the Kapanga Mine, Driving Creek, Coromandel, associated with 

 gold ; and subsequently Captain Hutton, in his report on the geology of 

 Coromandel (Geological Eeports, 1870-1, p. 5) again mentions its occurrence 

 in the same locality. 



The specimens which I have seen are all reniform and massive, and have 

 all been obtained from the Kapanga goldmine ; they are all tarnished to a 

 blackish-grey colour, and are sometimes deposited on calc spar. In some 

 cases free gold can be seen on the surface of the arsenic. 



Dr. Hector informs me that he had the good fortune to see a specimen 

 extracted from the No. 5 Driving Creek Mine, which showed in a very 

 characteristic way the manner of occurrence of this metal. 



The specimen consisted of a geode or cavity, formed at the point of inter- 

 section of two slender quartz veins, which was lined partly up its sides by a 

 coating of quartz. On this a mass of Calcite was crystallized, while both on 

 and through the mass of these Calcite crystals arsenic had been deposited in 

 a botryoidal form. On the surface of this was a deposit of Chalcedony, from 

 which long slender quartz crystals had grown, and by a subsequent action 

 the terminal facets of these had been coated by small globular patches of 

 arsenic, as if sublimed, sprouting from which were beautiful crystalline 

 filaments of gold. 



Although, as is much to be regretted, this specimen was not secured for 

 the Colonial Museum, having been presented to H.E. Sir George Bowen, 

 still, specimens collected by Dr. Hector from the same druse are yet in the 

 possession of the Geological Survey, and these demonstrate the interesting 

 points of the description already given. 



