APPENDICES 369

crater, three-quarters of a mile across and 570 feet deep, in
Arizona, was first known in 1891 and has heen the subject of much
controversy. More conclusive evidence has been given from the
group of craters discovered in 1931 near Henbury in Central
Australia, but the Wabar occurrence with the wonderful develop-
ment of silica-glass is the most conclusive of all.1

Another small piece of meteoric iron, much the size and shape
of a small bean and weighing only 8 grams (J oz.), was picked up
on the sand at Naif a, about 110 miles south-by-east of Wabar.
This fragment is perhaps part of the Wabar shower (in which case
the giant meteor travelled from the south), or it may have been
transported by the Arabs. In this connexion mention should be
made of the * Nejed ' meteoric iron, since in crystalline structure
and chemical composition it is exactly like the Wabar iron. Two
masses of this weighing 131 and 137 Ib. came from Arabia in
1885 and 1893 but their history is obscure. They were said to
have fallen during a thunderstorm in 1863. It seems very pro-
bable, however, that they had been transported from Wabar by
the Arabs before that date. One of the masses is preserved in the
British Museum collection of meteorites in the Natural History
Museum at South Kensington.

At ŁAin Sala, Adraj, and Umm Tina, not very far from Naif a,
Mr. Philby found in the desert several small and much-weathered
fragments of meteoric stones. They merely look like ironstone
concretions and were cleverly spotted by Mr. Campbell Smith
amongst the large collection of rock specimens. In thin micro-
sections they are seen to be of the same type as the meteoric
stone found by Mr. Bertram Thomas in 1931 at Buwah in the
same district, and described as the Suwahib meteorite.2 These
stones no doubt all belong to the same meteoritic shower, but are
quite distinct from the Wabar shower of meteoric irons, there
being no connexion between the two. The Arabian desert is
evidently a good place for the preservation of meteorites fallen
in ages past.

2. FULGURITES.

Silica-glass in another form, quite distinct from the more abun-
dant material at Wabar, was collected in small amount at three
other spots on the desert. These specimens have the shape of
small tubes, very much like worm-casts in sand, and were noted

1 An article, * Meteorite Craters,' by L. J. Spencer appeared in Nature
of May 28th, 1932 (pp. 781-784), a few days after Mr. Philby's collections
were unpacked at the British Museum.

2 * A new meteoric stone from Suwahib, Arabia,' by W. Campbell Smith,
Mineralogical Magazine, 1932, vol. 23, pp. 43-50.

2A