May, 1902. MEreorITE Stupies, I—FarrRINGTON. 309 
that name] and now preserved in the National Museum of Mexico. ”’ 
If it is correct thus to group the Ameca-Ameca meteorite (and hence 
Los Reyes) with Toluca, a distribution of fifty or sixty miles at least 
must be conceded to this fall, Ixtlahuaca and Xiquipilco, the two local- 
ities in the Valley of Toluca where many of the Toluca meteorites are 
found, being ten miles farther from Ameca-Ameca than Toluca itself. 
It will be remembered that Fletcher, after a careful study of Mexican 
meteorites with especial regard to the supposed occurrence of wide- 
spread meteoritic showers,* reached a negative conclusion as regards 
the wide extent of such showers, this opinion being similar to one in 
regard to such showers in general which he had expressed in an earlier 
paper.+ According to Fletcher the distribution of the Toluca meteor- 
ites as they have been reported from ‘localities distant from Toluca 
was probably due to human agency. With reference to the Ameca- 
Ameca meteorite he states that ‘‘ Ameca-Ameca is a town where there 
are now iron foundries, and where ploughs, castings, smoothing irons, 
mill wheels and other articles are manufactured,’’ to show that Toluca 
iron might have been carried there for manufacturing purposes. 
With regard to this report of the state of manufacturing enterprises 
in Ameca-Ameca I fear that the distinguished authority of the British 
Museum has been misinformed, for I have spent weary days in the 
town without having learned of the existence of such industry. 
The fact brought out by Fletcher to the effect that no known 
meteorite shower has a greater distribution than sixteen miles isa 
more important one in the study of this case, and the evidence at hand 
in this instance is hardly sufficient to enable us to assert that the 
Toluca shower had a wider extent. 
The meteorite may of course have reached Los Reyes by the 
agency of man, but on the whole the indications are that it fell where 
it was found. The statements of the finders were plain and simple, 
the meteorite bears no marks showing any attempt to use it for eco- 
nomic purposes, and the price at which it was purchased was lower 
than any one who had brought it from Toluca would probably have sold 
it for. If the iron fell where it was found it is important to determine 
whether it was an independent fall or whether its resemblance to 
known Toluca irons is sufficient to make it probable that it fell at the 
time of the Toluca shower. Here again no positive evidence is at 
hand, but the chances are, in my opinion, in favor of the latter con- 
clusion. The meteorite certainly does not differ sufficiently from 
known Toluca irons so that its independent origin can be asserted, 
*Mineralogical Magazine, vol. IX, No. 42, pp. 91-179. 
*+Mineralogical Magazine, vol. VIII, p. 225. 
