and
lepidolite locality. The spodumene crystals found near Pala are of
extraordinary size, one weighing thirty-one ounces, troy; the
dimensions of this crystal were 18 x 8 x 3 centimetres.
Kunzite
has a considerable range of tints which include shades characterised
as: deep rosy lilac, rich deep pink purple, and delicate pink
amethystine; this and the lighter lilac shades are the typical tints.
The finest specimens we have seen have a bright lustre and perfect
transparency. These lilac-spodumene crystals occurred in a ledge which
was traced for twelve hundred feet along the top of a ridge. The rock
is a coarse decomposed granite, which might be termed pegmatite, with
the feldspar much kaolinised and reduced to a " red dirt," and showing
many large quartz crystals, some of them weighing 150 pounds, but not
clear.
Other
coloured crystals of spodumene which approach in colour and quality the
standard specimens obtained near Pala have been found at Meridian,
California, but these are smaller than those found at Pala; the
Meridian specimens more nearly resemble the occasional specimens of
unaltered spodumene found near Branchville, Connecticut. The Meridian
crys-
