334 W. FE. Fontaine—Minerals in Amelia County, Va. 
siderably more manganese than iron, and has the ratio of 
columbic to tantalic acid 1:1. In mass it has a dark chestnat- 
brown to dark reddish brown color. Some particles tend to 
assume a fibrous structure, and then the color is somewhat 
lighter. In very thin splinters the color is a rich hyacinth-red. 
The normal columbite, so far as known, is the only kind that 
occurs in the upper part of the vein. The variety now in 
question is found only in pit No. 2, and becomes more abund- 
ant with increasing depth, Mr. Search, a gentleman connected 
with the mining operations and a zealous collector of the rare 
minerals found there, informs me that just before the pit was 
abandoned he found in the walls, a few feet above the bottom, 
t 
spessartite, that shows quite a different mode of sacietee, an 
which is specially noteworthy on account of its intimate con- 
nection with helvite. This second form of spessartite occurs 
in the form of a loosely aggregated mass, composed of granules 
and angular particles, but never in crystals. The granular 
mass is intimately mixed with helvite, the latter filling the 
interstices between the particles of spessartite. The compound 
is inserted in the cavities left between the interlacing crystals 
of albite that were formed on the walls of the large cavity dis- 
covered in pit No. 2. Both this spessartite and the helvite are 
clearly minerals deposited in the vein after the filling of the 
greater portion of it by the more abundant materials composing 
the vein stuff. The order of deposition seems to have been a5 
foilows. First, the beautifully clear albite crystals were formed 
on the walls of the cavity, producing an open network with 
large interstices. In some of these the spessartite was loosely 
deposited, and lastly, in some of the cavities between the partl- 
cles of spessartite helvite was laid down. The helvite is very 
rare, and does not occur associated with all of the spessartite- 
