Oktibehite or Awaruite?

Abstract

IN the notice of the proceedings of the Geological Society of London (NATURE, December 23, 1886, p. 190) the discovery in New Zealand of a nickel alloy allied to oktibehite appears to be claimed by Prof. Ulrich, of Dunedin. This requires explanation, as the mineral was first determined, and named awaruite, after the locality, by Mr. W. Skey, Analyst to the N.Z. Geological Survey Department on September 28, 1885, and described by him in a paper read on October 25, 1885, and published in the local papers at the time, as well as afterwards in the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute, vol. xviii., issued May 1886. A notice of it is also given in my twenty-first annual Museum and Laboratory Report, June 1886, of which I inclose a marked copy. It will be observed that while Ulrich accepts the identity of the New Zealand alloy with oktibehite, Skey's analysis shows that its formula is 2Ni + Fe, while that of the latter mineral is Ni + Fe.