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much greater than that met with in any known meteoric iron. To the 
presence of this great proportion of nickel M. Damour attributes the resist- 
ance of this iron to oxydation, and to the action of dilute sulphuric and 
hydrochloric acids. 
In confirmation of this opinion, M. Boussingault stated that he had fouDd 
that alloys of steel with 5, 10, and 15 per cent, of nickel, rather seemed to 
favour oxydation, and that he had seen the filings of meteoric irons con- 
taining from 5 to 7 per cent, of nickel rust very quickly under the joint 
action of air and moisture. But since the examination of the iron from 
Santa Catharina, he had prepared in his laboratory an alloy of 62 per cent, 
of steel with 38 per cent, of pure nickel, and found that neither the filed 
face of the ingot nor the filings from it ever rusted by contact with air and 
water. 
From a statement by M. Daubree, it appears that this native iron is 
exceedingly abundant in the province of Santa Catharina, where it is worked 
to a considerable extent, several thousand kilogrammes having been already 
extracted. He describes its constitution as exceedingly curious. Besides 
the metallic iron, it contains particles and slender veins of pyrrhotine, or 
magnetic pyrites, which, when dissolved in acid, leaves, besides sulphur, a 
black residue in little crystalline laminae, which proved to be graphite. 
The surface of the mass is covered with a black crust of magnetite, and the 
same mineral in many cases separates the pyrrhotine from the grey iron. 
The origin of the masses is doubtful ; but, as M. Daubree remarks, their 
chemical and mineralogical characters have never yet been observed in any 
authentic meteoric iron. 
Telluride of Gold, a new Mineral. — A pure crystalline telluride of gold 
has been lately discovered at Nagyaz in Hungary. It was exhibited by 
Professor Krenner at a recent meeting of the Hungarian Geological Society, 
and the name of Bunsenite was proposed for it. 
Supposed Organic Enclosures in Quartz. — Pastor Kawall has commu- 
nicated to the Imperial Society of Naturalists in Moscow (“Bulletin,^ 
1876, No. 3), an account of the occurrence of organisms enclosed in rock- 
crystal. In a specimen from Ufalei, in Siberia, he found a pale green 
naked caterpillar with a dark head, 1*7 millim. in length, and 0*3 millim. 
in ' thickness. He regards it as probably the larva of a Tineid moth, 
and proposes to name it provisionally Tineites cry stalli. Above this 
larva is a smaller and more contracted one, only 07 millim. in length. 
Another surface shows a third, bent caterpillar, and to the left of this two 
smaller ones. Besides these there were some half-dozen of small larvae, and 
many brownish and greenish fragments, some of which probably represent 
the excrement of the caterpillars. In another crystal he finds filamentous 
enclosures, probably representing confervae. 
