Berzelius,.

.8.31 15.85 60.87 10.80 1.10

Nordenskiöld, -8.31 15.91 61.16 11.64

both leading to the formula 2Cu3 P+5Pb2Ör + 2H.

1.10=98'03

1.06 1.10 99.18

11. Phosphorchromite.-Hermann (J. f. pr. Ch., II., i, 450) thus names a chromophosphate of lead and copper from Beresofsk. It occurs concretionary, crystalline or massive within, with a blackish-green color, pistachio-green streak, H. 3, G. 5.80. An analysis afforded:

P 9.94 Cr 10-13 Pb 68:33 Ĉu 7:36 Fe 2.80 1·16=99·72, leading to the formula 3CuP + 5Pb3 Cr+3H.

Vanadiolite of Hermann (J. f. pr. Chem., ib. 445) occurs in small crystals, partly in druses, of a dark or blackish-green color and gray-green streak; dark emerald-green color and transparent, in small grains; of strong vitreous luster, with G. =3.36. B.B. melts on the edges to a black blebby slag. His analysis afforded

Si 15.61 V 44-85 l 1.10 Fe 1.40 Mg 2.61 Ča 34·43=100 and he regards it as a subvanadate combined with augite like the Lavroffite of the same locality, Slüdänka, near Lake Baikal. He writes the formula 3RSi+ Ča® (VO1 + 2VO3).

12. Wolframite.-Descloizeaux suggested in 1850 (Ann. Ch. Phys., III, xxviii) that Wolfram was oblique rhombic in crystallization, after some measurements of crystals. He has recently confirmed this conclusion (ib., IV, xix, 168, Feb. 1870) by both optical and crystallographic observations. He finds the obliquity 90° 38', and the prismatic angle 100° 37'. His crystals were from Bayewka, near Ekatherinenbourg, in the Urals, a variety which afforded Mr. Koulibine,

W 74-32 Fe 2-11 Mn 20-90 Ca 1:30 Si 0-28-98.91, agreeing nearly with Hubnerite, of Nevada. G.=7′357.

13. Namaqualite, a new ore of Copper; by Prof. CHURCH (J. Ch. Soc., II, viii, 1).-Namaqualite is named after the region in which it occurs, Namaqualand, S. Africa. It occurs in thin layers of silky fibers, which alternate with chrysocolla and are sparingly mixed with small crystals of "magnesia mica." Color pale blue; H.=2·5; G.=249; isolated fibers transparent under the microscope. In the closed tube yields much water and blackens; at 100° C., or over sulphuric acid in vacuo, no loss of weight. Mean of analyses:

The oxygen ratio for the protoxyds, alumina and water is 4:3:11. Prof. Church remarks that its crystallized condition, and its definite and constant composition show that it is a true species; and the presence of a sesquioxyd that it is related in composition to hydrotalcite and pyroaurite.

14. Contributions to the Mineralogy of Victoria; by G. H. S. ULRICH, F.G.S. 32 pp. 8vo. Melbourne, 1870. (Reprinted from

the Report on the Mineral Statistics of Victoria for the year 1869, presented to Parliament.)-These "contributions" contain detailed descriptions of many species, with figures of crystals, and some analyses, the latter by Mr. C. Newbery. The following are among the new or more interesting species noted by Mr. Ulrich.

Maldonite, or Bismuthic Gold, from the Nuggety reef, of the Alliance Company, Maldon. It occurs in particles in the granite veins affording gold. It has a pinkish white color, but tarnishes easily on exposure to a dull copper color, and ultimately to black. Cleavage apparently cubic. H=1.5-2. Malleable and very sectile. Formerly in larger pieces in the upper workings of the Alliance Company's mine.

Native Bismuth, Bismuth Glance and Bismuthite occur in a quartz vein at Linton, Ballarat district.

Selwynite of Ulrich (Dana's Min., p. 509*), a chrome-bearing mineral, has been further examined. Mr. Newbery obtained in new analyses

the mean of which affords very nearly the oxygen ratio for R. R, Ši, Ĥ. 1:16:22:34. Mr. Ulrich observes that the mineral is probably an altered feldspathic mineral, and related to the Pinite group, or especially to gieseckite and dysyntribite. When polished it has some resemblance to nephrite.

Talcosite is a new mineral occurring in thin seams in the selwynite-the seams lamellar-columnar. Resembles talc in feel. H.=i; but transverse to lamination 1·5–2·0. G.−2·46-2·5. Color silverwhite, faint greenish or yellowish. Luster pearly. Scales flexible, not elastic. B. B. exfoliates, whitens, gives off water, and fuses at 4 to a blebby enamel; with cobalt solution a fine blue. A mean of two analyses by Mr. C. Newbery

Si 49:04 1 45.98 Er, Fe, Mg, Na, tr. H 4.30=99-32, giving the oxygen ratio of R, Si, H=5: 6 : 1.

Herschelite is found at a quarry of basalt near the river Yarra at Richmond. Several interesting figures of its crystals are given. It occurs with phillipsite, analcite and calcite. It is also found in basalt at the shaft of the Ballarat and Clunes Gold-Mining Co., Clunes.

Struvite in crystals occurs in guano, in the Skipton Caves near Ballarat. The depth of the guano is about 20 feet, and it has been derived from the excrements of bats.

Tetrahedrite, Stibnite, Molybdenite, Brookite, Cassiterite, Scheelite, Sapphire, Topaz are among the other minerals of which mention is made in the memoir.

15. Lavroffite (Lawrowit), has been analyzed by Hermann (J. f. pr. Ch., 1870, II, i, 444) and shown to be a vanadiferous diopside.

*In the analysis cited in the Mineralogy, Mg 4:36, should be Mg 4:56.

He obtained Si 53.65 Al 2-25 Fe 2:48 Mg 16:00 Ča 23.05 100, with 2.57 p. c. of hypovanadic acid.

16. On Sellaite, a new native fluorid, by Dr. STRUVER, Atti della R. Accad. di Torino, iv, 1868, 35.-This mineral was detected on a specimen of anhydrite from Geibroulà, in the State of Maggiore, in Piedmont. On the anhydrite there were also crystalline sulphur, dolomite, and rare twins of albite. It is tetragonal in crystallization, with I on 1 ( P on P)=123° 30', and i-i on i-3 (or ∞ P∞ on ∞P3)=161° 34'. Cleavage parallel to I and i-i perfect. H.-5. G.=2·972 at 24° C. Fracture conchoidal. Luster vitreous. Colorless. Transparent. Powder white.

It is insoluble in water; also in acids, except concentrated sulphuric, which causes an evolution of fluohydric acid. Small fragments melt in the flame of a candle with intumescence. From the similarity of its reactions to those of fluorite, the author concludes as not improbable that the mineral is a monofluorid of magnesium, which contains 38.71 of magnesia and 61.29 of fluorine. In treating a small fragment of it with concentrated sulphuric acid, he obtained for the proportion of magnesium 39.64 p. c. The small amount of the mineral in hand prevented his making a complete analysis. The species is named after the distinguished crystallographer, QUINTINO SELLA.

17. Ambrosite.-C. U. SHEPARD describes under this name, in The Rural Carolinian, Feb., 1870, p. 311, a resin resembling amber, from the phosphatic formation near Charleston, S. C. It is yellowish-brown externally, and clove-brown within; feebly translucent; sinks slowly in water; and melts into a clear liquid at 460° F., after softening at a much lower temperature. It gives off much succinic acid long before it melts, and a dense yellow oil is volatilized on its fusion. It is very combustible, burns with a bright yellowish-white light and pleasant odor, and leaves no ash behind. The name is made from the two words amber and rosin.

18. On the Guanape Island Guano and its minerals; by Prof. C. U. SHEPARD, (ib. May, p. 469).-Guanape island is two miles northeast of the Chincha Islands. A mineral occurring in balls and veins in the Guanape Guano, having H. =1.5, G. 2.3, and resembling a little the red Cheshire rock-salt, but rhombic instead of cubic in cleavage, is called Guanapite by the author. He found it to consist of sulphate of potash 67.75, sulphate of ammonia 27.88, oxalate of ammonia 3.75-99.38. It loses ammonia slightly on exposure to the air.

It

Another substance from the Guano is named Guanoxalite. contains sulphate of potash 40·20, oxalate of ammonia 29.57, water 30.46 =100 23. It occurs as pseudomorphs of a bird's egg, having the size and shape of that of a domestic duck. Color white exteriorly, but from the presence of the altered shell. Within, the material is foliated with a rhombic cleavage; a cream-white color; somewhat pearly luster; feeble translucence; hardness below 2, and G. 158. When heated it swells up, blackens, partially fuses, gives off copious fumes of ammonia, and leaves a white residue of sulphate of potash.

In the cavities of the spinal column and the stomach of the remains of birds from the Guano, yellow crystals of the mineral Taylorite occur, a species first noticed by W. J. Taylor in the guano of the Chincha Islands. Along with the Taylorite there are numerous minute scaly crystals of Aphthitalite; also oxalate of ammonia, which Prof. Shepard names Oxammite. Oxalate of lime is occasionally observed in crystals; also phosphate of ammonia (phosphammite of Shepard) in crystals and lumps; and, as an efflorescence from this mineral, biphosphate of ammonia (Biphosphammite S.).

III. BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY.

1. Miscellaneous Botanical Notices and Observations. The Code of Botanical Nomenclature, as digested by M. Alph. DeCandolle and adopted by the International Congress at Paris in 1867, while on the whole approved by botanists, has been variously criticised in certain particulars, some writers naturally objecting to one article, some to another. To the more important of these criticisms DeCandolle made reply at a meeting of the Botanical Society of France on the 26th of February, 1869. The number of the Bulletin which contains his communication was issued, we believe, at the beginning of the present year. M. DeCandolle intimates that he passes by the still controverted question as to the proper mode of citing the authority for species where they have been transferred to another than the original genus, as being one upon which further discussion could hardly be more than iteration. He merely remarks that the more experience we have of the working of the system of double citation of authors, whether with or without parenthesis, the more grave do the inconveniences appear. Since we cannot readily make a brief abstract of the several points which he does discuss, we will now notice only those upon which this Journal ventured to differ from M. DeCandolle and the Congress. The chief serious objection was raised upon article 50, which prescribed the mode in which unpublished names, taken up by an author, should be subsequently cited. We remarked that: "For instance, there may be no necessity for taking up one of Commerson's names affixed by him to his plants in herbaria; but if taken up, simple verity would seem to require this botanist's name to be cited. We should feel bound to write 'Flacourtia Commerson,' although published by L'Heritier or Jussieu, who probably supplied the character. The rule as proposed would apply to names communicated with manuscript characters by one botanist to another, as well as to named specimens. Now, no botanist is bound to do the work of publication for another; but if he chooses to do so, the maxim qui facit per alias, etc., must [conversely] fairly apply, and succeeding writers should not be required to take the godfather for the father. If we rightly understand the editor, he proposes that we should write Eulophus, Leptocaulis, and Trepocarpus DC., although the elder DeCandolle,

accepting these names with the specimens from Nuttall, scrupulously attributes them to 'Nutt. in litt.' To us, all such names, which the elder DeCandolle has, at his own discretion, published for Nuttall, are of Nutt. in DC. Prodr. &c."

To which M. DeCandolle now rejoins: "But see the inconvenience which results. All the catalogues or dictionaries, and all indexes have Leptocaulis Nutt. So we search the works of Nuttall, and perhaps even the small papers scattered in the journals, and lose much time and pains; for Nuttall never published this name. It may be that he would not have desired to publish it if he had examined the question subsequently. The date of the genus is that of the publication; and the publication is really the one essential thing; for what are the most important discoveries if not published? In writing Leptocaulis DC. ex Nutt. litt. the primitive author is equally indicated; but then one will see in the books Leptocaulis DC., and any one will readily find in the works of DeCandolle the origin of the genus and the date of publication." We are disposed to add that the information sought would be as readily found when written "Leptocaulis Nutt. in DC.," and that this more strictly as well as more tersely represents the fact than "Leptocaulis DC. ex Nutt. litt." The full reference is "Leptocaulis Nutt. in DC. Prodr. 4, p. 107;" and the question is, whether in mere enumeration this is to be abbreviated into "Leptocaulis Nutt," or "Leptocaulis DC." Either way, the work, as well as volume and page, has to be looked up, and the trouble of finding the origin of the name in the pages of the Prodromus may probably be far less than if Nuttall had published it directly in one of his various scattered papers. But let us in our turn test the new rule by the results which would ensue from its consistent application. To the first volume of the Flora of North America Nuttall contributed a large number of new species and genera, which were published for him by the authors of that work; but for which, if cited according to the new rule, they would seem to have incurred a responsibility much beyond what was counted on. They might well insist that the new mode of citation was misleading. Moreover, if "Centrostegia A. Gray, mss.," so published in Bentham's Eriogonea contributed to DeCandolle's Prodromus, is briefly to be cited "Centrostegia Thurberi Benth. in DC. Prodr," must not Eriogonum Douglasii and a score of other such species on the same principle be cited as E. Douglasii Alph. DC., &c.? for we should search the works of Bentham in vain for these names, losing much time and pains. It will of course be said that the "auctor Bentham" at the top of the page explicitly indicates the actual author; but so equally does the "A. Gray mss. at the head of that article. To take another instance: upon this plan we may be required to write "Eliottia Elliot" (Sketch, 1, p. 448). Elliott himself wrote "Elliottia Muhlenberg," adding, "I have inserted it, as requested by Dr. Muhlenberg, under this name." He adds to the specific name "Muhl. Cat." indeed. But the context shows that the second edition of Muhlenberg's Catalogue was not