Geology and Natural History. 487 



the meteorite the name under which it was originally described, 

 rather than that of the nearest locality. Priority is thus deemed 

 of more importance than geographical position, and a somewhat 

 elaborate defense of this course is given in the preface. Its 

 advisability may, however, be questioned, especially as it causes 

 many American falls to be named from counties rather than from 

 towns. 



In the second appendix a list of known meteorites by countries 

 is given, a work which, like the catalogue as a whole" affords 

 information of great usefulness to students of meteorites. 



o. c. F. 



7. The Eruption of Colima. (Communicated by F. L. 

 Speery.) — "The volcano of Colima in Mexico has been recently 

 in eruption and the following data in regard to it may be of value 

 to students of volcanic phenomena. They were obtained during 

 a recent visit to the city of Zapotlan, Jalisco, Mexico. The vol- 

 cano is about 100 miles from the west coast and about 25 miles 

 from Zapotlan. Its height is about 12,500 feet and it is a well 

 known landmark. The history of the volcano according to resi- 

 dents of the city is as follows : There was a great eruption 

 accompanied by earthquakes on Oct. 22d, 1742. The next was 

 on March 25th, 1806, with heavy earthquakes which destroyed a 

 church, killing 2,000 of the inhabitants who had sought refuge 

 there. In 1856 there were several eruptions and earthquakes 

 which destroyed houses in Zapotlan, Tuxpan and other places 

 within a radius of 30 miles. The volcano was smoking last July, 

 sending up pillars of steam high in the air, at irregular intervals. 

 At 12.30 p. m. Feb. 18th, 1903, the inhabitants of Zapotlan were 

 startled by a mighty roaring accompanied by slight shocks and 

 the fall of ashes. This was repeated Feb. 20th at 12.30 p. m. At 

 4 p. m. Feb. 24th there came a fearful eruption with showers of 

 ashes, which shrouded the city in darkness for three hours. These 

 eruptions continued every three or four days until March 9th, 

 when the greatest spectacle of all took place and the material of 

 the eruption was thrown into the city. The fine ash and gases 

 formed a very solid column reaching high in the atmosphere, 

 which remained intact for more than an hour. 



On March 10th this spectacle was repeated, then the volcano 

 remained dormant until March 23d at 1 p. m., when there was an 

 eruption which continued for half an hour accompanied by won- 

 derful spectacular effects. Since then the volcano has remained 

 quiet." 



(A specimen of the volcanic ash of the eruption of March 9th, 

 collected in Zapotlan and sent to the editors by Mr. Sperry, 

 shows a light gray andesitic material averaging about l mm in 

 diameter. Examination with the microscope reveals a mass of 

 minute lapilli-like particles angular to subangular, in part vesicu- 

 lar, in part consisting of solid particles of feldspars. The vesicu- 

 lar portion is sometimes of glass but mostly of lithoidal lava. It 

 is too fine to be called lapilli and is rather coarse for u ash." The 



