1850.] and Auxiliary Royal Asiatic Society. 449 



Zrist of Hock Specimens from Arabia, Persia and Babylonia, present- 

 ed to the Museum of Economic Geology, by Captain T. J. New- 

 bold. 



i. Serpentine from Muscat. 



2- Serpentine from Muscat, variety. 



3. Light green spotted variety of serpentine from Guano Rock near Muscat. 



4. Calc spar from veins in serpentine of Muscat. The spar imbedded in 

 fragments of the rock proving the posterior origin of the veins- The Calc spar 

 is often blended with magnesian matter derived from the serpentine — Steatite, 

 Nephrite and Sulphate of lime are commonly found associated with it, and some- 

 times common salt. These minerals occur frequently in thin lamellce filling 

 seams of the rock almost invisible to the naked eye, penetrating it in every di- 

 rection and rendering it friable and unfit generally for building purposes. 

 Whole masses of serpentine are often separated at the planes of the more ver- 

 tical and highly inclined seams, and slide down in avalanches of crumbly frag- 

 ments to the base. The smooth sparry or steatitic surfaces thus exposed on 

 the rocks left standing are often of considerable extent. Their white, grey and 

 whitish green colours exhibit striking contrasts with the prevailing sombre 

 hues of the serpentine, viz., black, deep green, rusty and purplish brown. 



5. Conglomerate overlying the serpentine interstratified with grit and sand- 

 stone and underlying sandstone and nummulitic limestone, form the range sup- 

 porting the elevated deserts of Arabia at the back of Muscat. 



6. Reddish ferruginous sandstone overlying No. 5. 



7. Nummulitic limestone overlying No. 5 and 6- 



8. Recent conglomerate now in process of formation, on the sea beach of 

 south Arabia consisting of lime and sand cementing fragments of coral, marine 

 shells and beach pebbles- The specimen is from Muttreh near Muscat. 



9. Dark brown ferruginous rock from the Island of Hormuz Persian Gulf. 

 This rock passes into a pure heematitic iron ore, and occasionally imbeds iron 

 pyrites and specular iron ore- It is sometimes whitened by incrustations of 

 common salt- 



10. White friable rock, slightly dotted with greyish and reddish spots, exhi- 

 biting a few small angular bits of quartz and glassy felspar. These minerals 

 have resisted the process of disintegration more successfully than the substance 

 pf the rock, which appears originally to have been a trachy tic variety of No. 11. 



11. Like No- 9 and 10 from Hormuz, is a pale bluish grey, highly indurated 

 lava, imbedding pale decaying crystals of olivine and a few of glassy felspar. 

 The crystals in weathering fall out leaving cavities which impart a variolated 

 aspect to the surface of the rock. The middle and southern portions of the 

 Island of Hormuz are said to abound in deposits of pure common salt, which 

 forms an article of commerce, and is farmed out by the Imaum of Muscat- The 

 Ioland as well as the Persian Coast from Mennow and Bunder Abbas to the 



