94 Scientific Intelligence. 



Sections were obtained with great difficulty on account of the 

 extreme hardness and brittleness, but proved the material to be 

 greenish by transmitted light, non-pleochroic and isotropic and 

 ^ave no indication of crystalline structure. Irregular fracture 

 lines were common, sometimes approaching in appearances cleav- 

 ages, and many minute shot-like grains of an iron-stained decom- 

 posed mineral were noticed. 



The region in which the material occurs is volcanic, and the 

 very marked vesicular structure and conchoidal fracture would 

 indicate a volcanic scoria. The hardness from 8-9 is unusual, 

 but basic scorias from the Sandwich Islands and elsewhere have 

 shown a hardness from 6-7, greater than that of ordinary obsidian. 

 The recorded analysis, for which no great accuracy is claimed, 

 shows: 



Si0 2 Fe 2 3 A1 2 3 CaO MgO Mn0 2 



46-32 13-00 9-19 17*74 13-13 trace = 99'38, 



corresponding rather closely to formula R 2 3 .4R0.5Si0 3 . The 

 material qualitatively resembles garnet, but quantitatively differs 

 widely; thus removing the possibility of it being a kind of 

 garnet (as suggested by Dana). 



The analysis of a tachylyte from Gethurms, Germany, by Lem- 

 berg,* shows: 



Si0 2 Fe 2 3 A1 2 3 €aO MgO K 2 N 2 Loss 

 45-73 12-46 20-15 867 3-59 411 5'74 0-12 = 100-57, 



as low in Si0 2 as the supposed Ramosite. 



The evidence, therefore, shows the material to be not a min- 

 eral, but a basic scoria of unusual hardness and composition. 



Department of Mineralogy, 



Columbia University, N. Y., Nov. 4, 1903. 



10. List of New York Mineral Localities ; by H. P. Whit- 

 lock. Bulletin 70, Mineralogy 3, New York State Museum, 

 F. J. H. Merrill, Director. Pp. 108, Albany, 1903.— This Bulle- 

 tin will be found of much value by workers in mineralogy. It 

 gives a carefully edited list of the species which have been found 

 at various points in the state. The places are arranged under 

 the separate counties, and the tables indicate the method of 

 occurrence, the mineralogical association of the specimens, etc. 

 In addition to the general introduction, a bibliography of two 

 hundred and thirty-one numbers is given, to which references are 

 made in the tables. 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. International Catalogue of Scientific Literature. — The his- 

 tory and plan of the International Catalogue of Scientific Litera- 

 ture have been already given in this Journal (v. xiv, 317, 1902), 

 and some of the volumes issued have been noticed (v. xv, 490, 

 1902). It is gratifying to be able to record the further progress 



*Zeitschr., d.d. Geol., Gesell., xxxv, 570. 



