﻿Yol. 64.] AND ANTIGORITE-SERPENTINES. 161 



or almost spherulitic : the axes of the former showing some inclina- 

 tion (though it is not verj- marked) to parallelism with, and per- 

 pendicularity to, the direction of the slight cleavage. I have noticed 

 this tendency to an acicular or dagger-like form occasionally in my 

 Alpine specimens; and if either ot these two had been given to me 

 as coming from one of the regions mentioned above, I should not 

 have had any suspicions. I may add that among the other interesting 

 specimens is a much slickensided piece of a dark-green serpentine, 

 closely resembling some of those from the Engadine, described 

 below. It comes from Asbestus Creek, Mikonui (Toaroha District). 

 [Microscopic examination shows the resemblance to be as close as 

 possible. The rock consists of serpentinized olivine with some 

 grains of chromite and a much altered, close-cleaved mineral, 

 probably once enstatite. In parts it shows signs of fracture under 

 pressure, which has given rise to curving lines of more or less 

 fibrous serpentine, the fibres lying either along or oblique to their 

 direction. Here and there an approach to a rather minute ' thorn- 

 structure ' may be detected, but nowhere any thoroughly typical 

 antigorite.] 



The Mineralogical Museum at Cambridge contains three spe- 

 cimens of antigorite - serpentine, about which Prof. Lewis and 

 Dr. A. Hutchinson have kindly supplied me with information. Two 

 are in the Wiltshire Collection (presented in 1897), one purchased 

 from Eoote, the other from Baldon ; both being labelled ' Zermatt, 

 Switzerland.' I have little doubt that they were obtained near 

 the well-known tarn (about 9000 feet) at the base of the peak of the 

 Riftelhorn.^ The third specimen has been for many years in the 

 Museum, and its locality is not known ; but it is so like the others 

 that it might well be from the same place. 



The result of my journey led me to re-examine the specimens in 

 the Mineral Collection at the British Museum (Natural History), and 

 to enquire more particularly into their history, and I gladly take this 

 opportunity of thanking Mr. L. J. Spencer for his kind assistance. 

 They are as follows : — (1) A pale-green slab measuring about 6 by 

 4| inches, rather thin, but opaque, purchased from F. H. Hoseus, 

 mineral-dealer at Basel, in 1871 : his label gives Maderanerthal 

 (Switzerland), which is corrected in Mr. Fletcher's handwriting to 

 Zermatt. It might very well have come from the base of the Eifi'el- 

 horn or the neighbouring part of the Gorner Grat. (2) A flake, 2| 

 by 2 inches, transparent green, without any black mottling : one of 

 the Allan-Grreg specimens received in 1860 without number, and 

 entered in an appendix by the late T. Davies to the catalogue of 

 that collection as : ' Antigorite, Antigorio Valley : this also much 

 resembles Eiffelberg specimens. (3) A thin oval slab, 5| by nearly 

 3J inches, polished on both sides, translucent in parts, rich green 

 mottled with dark ; entered under date 1829 (Allan-Greg Collection) 

 as ' noble serpentine ' without locality, to which T. Davies has 



^ See my paper, Geol. Mag, dec. iii, vol. vii (1890) p. 533. 



M 2 



