304 CHEMISTBY. 



pelvic plate?. Five plates in second, and six in top range. C. laevis is the more 

 common species. 



13. Calliocrinites (Calliocrinus, d'Orb) ? Cup of two ranges. Pelvic range of 

 5 plates. Apparently a very doubtful genus. 



Appendix: — Hemicy&tites, Hall, (including Agelacrinites : Pal, N. Y., vol. 2, 



page 245, and also page 855.") Tetragonis, Eichwald (including Ischaditcs, Murch- 



ison; and Receptaculites, Salter. (V. McCoy's Cambridge Museum Fossils, page 



62.) 



E. J. C. 



CHEMISTRY. 



NOTE ON THE OXALATE OV MANGANESE. 



I have to correct a slight error in my note on the oxalate of manganese, pub- 

 lished in a former number of this journal*. I have there supposed the formula of 

 Graham's oxalate to be Mn 0, C' J 3 + 5 aq., whereas, adopting the bibasie 

 character of the acid, it should be 2Mn + C 4 6 + 5 aq. 



Souchay and Lenssen have lately (Ann. Ch. u. Ph. April) examined the same 

 salt, and confirm Graham's formula ; in the single analysis mentioned in their 

 paper, they found 37,55 p. c. of Mn 0, the formula requiring 37,83. According to 

 the formula 2 Mn 0+C + 6 + 6 aq, the quantity of Mn O should be 36, 09, while my 

 four determinations range from 36.39 to 36,79. The pink hydrate is very prone 

 to lose water in a warm atmosphere, and if not analyzed quickly the amount of 

 Mn O would of course come out too high. 



Moreover, the quantity of water lost by the pink salt, at a temperature of 212° 

 was in my experiments 8.75, the formula requiring 9.09, whereas if Graham's 

 formula be adopted the loss should be only 4.78. The extrication of the water 

 takes place easily and rapidly, and cannot therefore be due to a loss of water from 

 the white hydrated salt, which, according to Liebig, loses nothing at 212°, and 

 only after continuous heating, according to Souchay and Lenssen. 



I am therefore inclined to retain the formula 2MnO+C 4 6 + 6 aq. 



H. C. 



BORON. 



By the action of aluminum on fused boracic acid, at a high temperature, 

 "Wohler and Deville have obtained boron in the amorphous (already known), the 

 graphitoid, and the crystallized state. The graphitoid boron is obtained by the 

 action of an acid on the boride of aluminum, and appears in the form of spangles, 

 often hexagonal, slightly reddish, and with the form and brilliancy of natural 

 graphite and graphitoid silicon; it is perfectly opaque. The crystallized is 

 obtained in small red or yellow crystals, the form of which cannot be determined, 

 as they seem to be composed of a number of small crystals. These possess a 

 brilliancy and refractive power only comparable to the diamond, and rival it in 

 hardness. When heated it oxidizes only on the surface, not altered by nitre at a 

 red heat, readily acted on by chlorine, and slowly by carbonate of soda at a red 

 heat. It forms alloys with platinum and palladium. 



"When a filter on which amorphous boron has been dried is inflamed, the boron 

 burns with great ease; the graphitoid variety resists combustion in this way. 



Can. Jour. N. S. vol. ii. pp. 30—32. 



