COMMON COMPACT LUCULUTE. JbJ • I Unes. The finer varieties of this mineral have been liighlj prized, and used as marble from a very remote period. It was so much admired and esteemed by the Consul Lueullus, that he gave it his name. Pliny observes: “ Post hunc Lepidum ferine quadriennio L. Lueullus Consul fuit, qui nomen (ut apparet ex re) Luculleo Mar- tnori dedit, admodum deleetatus illo, primusque Ilomam invexit, atrum alioqui, cum cietera maculis aut coloribus eommendentur. Nascitur autem in Nili insula, solum- que horum marmorum ah amatore nomen accepit *. It is said that Marcus Scaurus ornamented his palace with columns thirty-eight feet high ol lucullite; and Xerber describes busts and pedestals of it in the Capitol, and at Albani. The mausoleum of Frederick-William, father of Frederick; the Great, at Potsdam, is of black marble. The Chinese cut it into bars, and use it along with other minerals in the construction of their musical instrument named king. The Paragone mentioned by Xerber as a variety of black marble, is said to be basalt. Under the title Xero anlico, the Italians include all the fine antique lucullite*, which me now very rare, and are only to be met with in polished slabs or pieces. The finest varieties of lucullite met with in trade in this island, are the black marbles of Sutherlandshire, Kilkenny, and Galway. Observations. 1. It is distinguished from other Marbles and Lime stones by its deep black colour, the strong sulphureous smell it emits when rubbed, and higher spec'.fie gravity. M 4 2. It * frm. Hist. Nat.