MINERALS AND MINERAL LOCALITIES OF N. S. WALES. 41 



they exhibit great brilliancy, and as they are remarkably clear, 



and free from flaws and imperfections, they make very handsome 



gems. B. B. easily fusible, and in solution they give strong iron 



reaction. 



Spessartite. 



Spessartite has been met with in the argentiferous lodes of 



Broken Hill, but only occurs in small quantity. A sample which 



I recently received from that locality, consisted of about a dozen 



broken crystals, which had the appearance of having been originally 



very perfect crystallisations. 



One portion of a crystal showed faces of the rhombic dodeca- 

 hedron without modification, and another presented planes of the 

 same kind, in combination with faces of the tetragonal tris-octa- 

 hedron, the latter planes being much reduced. The colour of the 

 stones is a reddish-sherry tint, passing into brownish-red, and in 

 greater part they are perfectly transparent. 



No cleavage was observed, but some of the dodecahedral faces 

 viewed on the edge exhibited a lamellar or platy structure. No 

 striae were noticed on crystalline faces. The hardness was slightly 

 over 7, the mineral scratching quartz, but not readily. The Sp. 

 G., as a result of the mean of several trials, was found to be 4 , 18. 

 B. B. fuses readily if in small splinters or fragments, and the 

 colour of the fused mineral becomes much darker, but is not in 

 any degree magnetic. With fluxes gives strong reaction for 

 manganese. One of the broken crystals in the sample weighed 

 eighteen and a half grains troy. 



Hyalite. 

 Hyalite is found on ' Mount Cora,' a conical hill of basalt, 

 which is situated about twelve miles due east from Yalaroi Station 

 in the Warialda district. The mineral exists in large quantities 

 filling in crevices and cavities on the top of the mount, and large 

 and fine specimens are readily obtainable. Also at Elsmore, one 

 and a half miles from the Elsmore Public School, at the junction 

 of the Elsmore and Glen Innes roads ; it occurs here lining 

 amygdaloidal cavities in basalt ; rare. 



