248 J. MILNE CURRAN. 
surface, and he notes that they had the appearance of not having 
travelled far. I found several pieces of a coarsely crystallising 
basic rock containing the garnets in situ. 
The garnet is found close to an isolated hummock of basalt that 
cannot easily be connected with the other basalts of the district. 
The probability is that the basic rock referred to is a segregation 
from the basalt, or a selvage in contact with the country rock, 
should the basalt be found to be an intrusive mass. The rock 
must have been denuded considerably, as garnet can be washed 
from the soil around for a considerable distance. At the time of 
my visit, the stones were considered to be rubies, and the ground 
was taken up to mine for the gems. The mistake was a pardon- 
able one, with men who are accustomed to consider every stone 
with a fine red colour aruby. 1 collected some of the stones, and 
in violation of all the traditions of the lapidary insisted on having 
the stones cut as brilliants and not en cabochon or carbuncle style. 
The result was decidedly pleasing. The cut stone shows a perfect 
“pigeon-blood” red by reflected light, but a rather muddy 
hyacinth red by transmitted light. The fracture, single refraction, 
fusibility, and hardness, show that they have all the life and 
beauty of true gems. 
The matrix of this garnet already referred to is an interesting 
rock. It might be described as a holocrystalline granular, basic 
rock, composed of pyroxene, felspar and kelyphyte rings of a com- 
posite substance surrounding garnet. ‘The garnet in question is 
nearer to pyrope than almandine, and it is remarkable that Diller? 
describes an American rock with pyrope surrounded in a like 
manner by radial shells of biotite and magnetite. A very similar 
occurrence is figured by Rosenbush.? An analysis of this interest- 
ing rock is here given :— 
Basic rock from Bingara H,O (on ignition) ... 12 
id, ... on iy 
Al,O; Bra pie Ft 
1 Bull. No. 38, United States Geological Survey, p. 15. 
2 Micros. Physiographie Petro. Wichtigen. Minérallen, Taf. x1v- 
