1897.] Mineralogy. 1045 
It is shown that yeasts not only may be carried in the digestive tract 
of flies (as weil as upon the external parts of the body) but that they 
actually multiply there. The belief is expressed that many yeasts 
ordinarily pass the winter within the digestive tracts of insects, rather 
than upon the surfaces of plants or in the soil. 
A Plankton Note.—Another illustration of the abundance of cer- 
tain small animals in the ocean is furnished in a letter from W. A 
Herdman published in Nature. While crossing the Labrador current 
at about long. 50° W. in the steamship Parisian the party were served 
with a copepod stew. The little crustacea were caught by pumping 
` the water into the ship and straining it through silk nets. In this way 
it was easy to obtain a sufficient number to make a “ respectable dish.” 
MINERALOGY. 
New Minerals. Derbylite.—Hussak and Prior’ give a full de- 
scription of a new antimono-titanate of iron, of which they had given 
a preliminary notice.” The mineral, named Derbylite in honor of the 
distinguished geologist of Brazil, O. A. Derby, occurs in the cinnabar- 
bearing sands of Tripuhay, Minas Geres, Brazil, and has also been 
found in place in certain muscovite schists in the near vicinity. Der- 
bylite is orthorhombic, a: b: c=0.96612: 1: 0.55025. Twins on 011. 
Fracture parallel to 001 but no good cleavage. Crystals minute, color 
pitch-black, lustre resinous, hardness about 5, specific gravity 4.530. 
Optical properties undeterminable on account of opacity. Composition 
probably FeO, Sb,O s+ 5 FeO, TiO, neglecting small amounts of silica, 
alumina and alkalies 
Zirkelite.—Prior® gives a revised analysis of this new mineral‘ 
ZrO, TiO, ThO, Ce,O, (Y,0,?) UO, FeO CaO MgO Ignition Sum 
52.89 14.95 731 252 021 1.40 7.72 10.79 0.22 1.02 99.03 
corresponding to the formula (approximately) RO.2 (Zr Ti Th) O,. 
3 Nature, Vol. 59, p. 565, Oct. 14, 1897. 
1 Min. Mag., Vol. XI, No. 52, p. 176. 
2 Min. Mag., Vol. XI, No. 50, p. 85. 
3 Min. Mag., Vol. XI, No 52, p. 180. 
4 First described in Min. Mag., Vol. XI, No. 50, p. 88. See abstract this 
journal, Vol. XXXI, July, 1897, p. 601. 
