J. W. Mallet on Sipylite, a new Niobate. 397 
Art, XLVI.— On Sipylite, a new Niobate, from Amherst County, 
Virginia ; by J. W. Mauuer. 
THE allanite found in Amherst County in this State, of which 
an analysis by Mr. J. A. Cabell, was published in the Chemical 
News, 1874, p. 141, occurs in large quantity, and furnishes an 
abundant source of supply of the cerium family of metals. In 
picking over a lot of three or four hundred pounds of it, I was 
struck with the appearance of a few fragments of an accom- 
panying mineral, which on more careful examination turns out 
to be a new niobate 
iron ore. The vein is said to be about two feet wide, and runs 
about northeast and southwest, dipping at a large angle to the 
southeast. 
Beside allanite, magnetite, and the new mineral now to be 
described, I have only noticed among the specimens which 
have reached me a few large crystals of hydrous zircon. One 
of these measured about 30x 18X13 mm., was doubly termin- 
ated, of sp. gr.=4°217, and yielded on ignition 1°89 per cent of 
water. 
he new mineral is decidedly rare; all the specimens I have 
collected were picked out from three lots of the allanite, two 
m of several hundred pounds each, and would probabl} 
not weigh half a kilogram ; the largest single piece weighs about 
orty grams; most of the fragments are much smaller. It is 
found imbedded in, or more commonly adherent to, the outside 
of the masses of allanite and magnetite, from which it is easily 
detached. 
