DR. W. FLIGHT, GREPJNLAND METEORITES. 459 



fine black granules, or larger round transparent bodies of a violet 

 colour, which may be the mineral NauckhofF regards as spinel. 

 Side by side with the felspar, brown grains, less numerous than in 

 the former section, are seen, and these are probably augite. Black 

 particles, moreover, occur, which by reflected light appear to be 

 semi-metallic, and are probably magnetite, as well as others that 

 are likewise black, but devoid of lustre, which seem to be graphite. 

 A few small grains of troilite were also recognised. In the second 

 section, which bore a general resemblance to the first, the felspar 

 crystals were larger, the matrix being made up of finer crystals. 

 In some of the felspar crystals cloudy pale-brown patches were 

 observed, which, when viewed with a higher power, were found to 

 be due to numberless, minute, elongated, inclosed granules lying 

 in parallel position, or to others that were shorter and more rounded. 

 These appearances recall those noticed in eucritic meteorites, like 

 that of Jonsac, except for the fact that the inclosed particles are of 

 smaller size. The larger cavities in the felspar are filled in the 

 same manner as in the other rock-section from Ovifak. The 

 structure of eucritic meteorites is tufaceous ; that of the Ovifak 

 rock very compact. This distinction, however, has often been 

 observed in meteorites. Many chondritic meteorites are tufaceous ; 

 while others, having similar chemical composition, like the aerolites 

 of Lodran and Manbhoom, are compact and crystalline. The 

 augite of the Ovifak rocks has not the characteristically filled 

 cavities observed in that of certain eucritic meteorites ; but in the 

 augite of some meteorites, as those of Shergotty and Busti, for 

 example, they are equally wanting. 



The meteorites of Ovifak in some respects resemble the carbo- 

 naceous meteorites, though they difi^er greatly from them in other 

 characters : especially in the appearance of both metallic and rocky 

 portions. They form a new type in the series of meteoric rocks, 

 and fill the gap that has hitherto separated the carbonaceous from 

 other meteorites. 



If some differences are to be traced between the remarkable rocks 

 and irons of Ovifak and known meteorites, others still greater 

 present themselves, when we compare the Greenland masses with 

 terrestrial rocks, even with the basalts and diorites, near which it 

 might be proposed to class them, on account of the occurrence in 

 them of magnetite, and of the crystalline arrangement of their 

 silicates. Iron has not hitherto been found as metal inclosed in 

 basalt, except on very rare occasions (as by Andrews in the basalt 

 of Antrim,* and then only in fine particles, and apparently not 

 alloyed with nickel and cobalt), while troilite is a meteoric mineral, 

 and has never been met with in a terrestrial rock. 



But if the weight of evidence favours the assumption that 

 these masses are of meteoric origin, there remain the following 

 considerations to which attention has been drawn by llammels- 



* A. E. Eeuss detected the presence of iron in some Bohemian basalts by 

 Andrews' method. {Kenngott's Uehersicht Result. Min. Forschungen, 1859, 

 105.) 



