196 THE MINERALS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Agates and chalcedony are plentiful near Dubbo and Bald Hill, 

 Wellington, Mount Wingen, Maitland, Cowriga, and other places. 



Jasper. — Is very abundant and widely distributed throughout 

 various parts of New South Wales. It is found of nearly all 

 shades of colour — pure white, grey, slate, dull blue, olive and bright 

 greens, brown, red, and black, both alone as simple colours, and in 

 varied combinations of stripes, streaks, and bands and mottlings. 



It is found mainly in the form of boulders and pebbles in river 

 beds, and it enters largely into the composition of nearly all 

 conglomerates, gravelly alluvial deposits, and river drifts. 



The peculiar variety known as Egyptian jasper does not appeal' 

 to have yet been met with. 



Amongst the principal localities are the Gwydir, the Mackintyre, 

 the Macquarie, Cudgegong, the Hunter, the Murrumbidgee, and 

 many of their tributaries. There are large quantities of fine red 

 jasper near Gobolion; also near Scone. The drifts at Mudgee, 

 Bathurst, Bingera, Lake George, Molong, and other places are 

 rich in fine jasper specimens. 



Jtibbon Jasper. — At the junction of Pink's Creek with the Bell 

 River a clay slate has been converted into ribbon jasper. 



Eisenlciesel. — A variety of ferruginous quartz. Large masses of 

 this mineral in situ occur near Bingera ; it also abounds between 

 Guano Hill and the Bell Biver, at Carcoar, Mount Lindesay, and at 

 the junction of Cotter's Biver with the Murrumbidgee. 



Lydian Stone.— A. velvet black form of jasper, used by jewellers 

 as a touchstone for gold alloys. Mullion Bange, Bathurst country. 



Chert. — Common in seams and bands throughout the coal 

 measures. Its structure is often more or less lamellar, and the 

 fracture conchoidal. Mount Victoria, Wallerawang, Hartley, 

 Jamberoo, Illawarra, Lachlan Biver. 



Chalcedony. — An amorphous or crypto-crystalline form of quartz. 

 There are several varieties of chalcedony. 



Chalcedony proper : Massive, translucent, pale-grey, blue, or 

 brown ; with waxy lustre ; surface mammillated, and often of a 

 stalactitic form. 



Nodules of chalcedony are found near Carcoar, with resinite and 

 chert. ; also at Cowriga Creek, Wellington, Dubbo, Maitland, the 

 Hunter Biver, and filling lines of small cavities in a green fel stone 

 on Bat's Castle Creek, 6 miles S.E. of Two-mile Flat. 



Carnelian : Is a bright red chalcedony, but the ornamental white 

 varieties of chalcedony are also usually included under the same 

 name by jewellers. 



Ked and white carnelians are rather common in the Hunter 

 Biver, or Maitland, and other places : also near Wellington ; in 

 Pond Creek, near Inverell. 



