Kraus — Occurrence of Celestite near Syracuse, JV. Y. 33 



able to observe celestite in many places southeast of Syracuse, 

 principally, however, at Dunlop's quarry and in the vicinity of 

 the Eock Cut on the D. L. & W. B. E. Later, Prof. T. C. 

 Hopkins of Syracuse University noticed it near Split Eock in 

 the drab limestones of the Salina along the cuttings of the new 

 Auburn and Syracuse railroad. Although I was unable to 

 make an exhaustive study last fall of its distribution, I do not 

 doubt, whatever, but that its occurrence in the disseminated 

 condition, as shown by the accompanying figures, is just as 

 extensive in the limestones of the Salina elsewhere, as in the 

 vicinity of Syracuse. 



Beck in his "Mineralogy of ~New York "* says: "Celestite 

 is usually associated with limestones, but that it does not seem 

 to be peculiar to any geological epoch." He mentions but 

 one occurrence in the dark Salina limestone, which is on the 

 Owasco Outlet, near Auburn. Whether the mineral occurs in 

 this locality disseminated throughout the rock, or in cavities 

 and veins, neither Beck nor Whitlockf states with definiteness. 

 From the general description which they give, one is led to 

 believe that at this locality it is of secondary formation, that is, 

 in veins or cavities. All the other occurrences in New York 

 State which are mentioned by Beck and "Wkitlock (there are 

 nine (9) of them) are in other epochs and without an excej}- 

 tion secondary formations. 



The occurrence at Dunlop's gypsum quarry, about one-half 

 to three-quarters of a mile to the northeast of the locality 

 where celestite was first found, is extremely interesting. It 

 was impossible for me during my visits to this quarry to 

 observe the rock containing the celestite in situ on account of 

 the fact that the strata above the gypsum were for the most 

 part covered with soil or other earthy material. The dump 

 piles, however, contain a great many rock fragments, which 

 show large quantities of the fresh mineral. The specimen 

 shown in ' fig. 3 is from this locality. The crystals are 

 rather small, one-eighth to three-eighths of an inch in length 

 and, where the rocks have been exposed to the weathering 

 agencies, the crystals on the outside have entirely disappeared, 

 leaving very unique cavities. The cavities, nevertheless, betray 

 by means of their distinct outline what the original material was, 

 for the orthorhombic character as well as the various faces may 

 be easily recognized. These cavities might at first sight appear 

 to be bird tracks or something of that character, but as said, it 

 can be easily shown that they are crystal cavities. That this 

 is the case can be proven beyond a doubt by breaking the speci- 

 men, as has been done in fig. 3, and we find that the mineral is 



* Page 210. 



f Whitlock, New York Mineral Localities, 1903, 22. 



Am. Jour. Sci— Fourth Series, Vol. XVIII, No. 101].— July, 1904. 



