BOROLANITE  , one of the most remarkable rocks of the

British Isles, found on the shores of Loch Borolan in Sutherland-'shire, after which it has been named . In this locality there is a considerable area of granite rich in red alkali felspar, and passing, by diminution in the amount of its quartz, into quartz-syenites (nordmarkites) and syenites . At the margins of the outcrop patches of nepheline-syenite occur; usually the nepheline is decomposed, but occasionally it is well-preserved; the other ingredients of the rock are brown garnet (melanite) and aegirine . The abundance of melanite is very unusual in igneous rocks, though some syenites, leucitophyres, and aegirine-felsites resemble borolanite in this respect . In places the nephelinesyenite assumes the form of a dark rock with large rounded white spots . These last consist of an intermixture of nepheline or sodalite and alkali-felspar . From the analogy of certain leucitesyenites which are known in Arkansas, it is very probable that these spots represent original leucites which have been changed into aggregates of the above-named minerals . They resemble leucite in their shape, but have not yet been proved to have its crystalline outlines . The " pseudo-leucites," as they have been called, measure one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch across . The dark matrix consists of biotite, aegirine-augite and melanite . Connected with the borolanite there are other types of nepheline-syenite and pegmatite . In Finland, melanitebearing nepheline rocks have been found and described as Ijolite, but the only other locality for melanite-leucite-syenite is Magnet Cove in Arkansas .

(J . S .