Chap. III. ] 
SITAPARITE. 
49 
Of these formulae the simplest is the first, to which the analyses 
correspond more nearly than to any other, if a httle of the iron be 
regarded as impurity in the Garividi specimen. The second is the least 
probable interpretation as it is then necessary to assume errors of 1 " 00 
and 1'21, respectively, in the determination of the oxygen. Which- 
ever be the correct formula there is no doubt that this mineral is a new 
mineral species. I propose to call it vredenhurgite after my colleague 
Mr. E. W. Vredenburg, under whom I spent my first field season in 
India and first came in contact with deposits of manganese-ore. Its 
main interest lies in its combination of strongly magnetic characters with 
a high percentage of manganese. In consequence of the former property 
it is liable to be mistaken for magnetite if — as is only natural, considering 
that up to the present the only black strongly magnetic mineral^ that has 
been recognised is magnetite — its chemical character be not determined. 
Whilst on account of its well-marked cleavage and the fact that it is 
found in manganese deposits, it is liable to be mistaken for braimite, 
unless its magnetic characters be examined. The fact that it dissolves 
up practically completely in acid, without leaving a residue of silica, 
serves to distinguish it from braunite ; so also does its duller lustre on 
cleavage surfaces and its curious bronzy lustre in the sun. Otherwise, 
in hardness, cleavage, and specific gravity, there is a remarkable simi- 
larity between these two minerals 
Sitaparite 
At Sitapar in the Chhindwara district, Central Provinces, there occurs 
amongst the interesting association of minerals forming the ores of this 
place a dark bronze-coloured mineral that looks very hke the one I have 
called vredenhurgite. It is, however, distinguished from the latter by 
the fact that it is only slightly magnetic, vredenhurgite being about as 
magnetic as magnetite. The actual colour of the mineral may be de- 
Chara te s scribed as dark bronze-grey, the bronze tint being 
especially well seen in the sun. It is, moreover, 
sufficiently well marked for the mineral to be at once distinguished 
from its associates in the ores in which it occurs. The streak is 
black, the lastre metallic. The mineral is brittle and tends to break 
along almost perfect cleavage planes, which may be octahedral. 
The hardness of the mineral is about the same as that of quartz. 
The specific gravity seems to be somewhat variable, three pieces showing 
1 Excluding native element?. 
I E 
