The original home of cassiterite is in veins closely related to granitic rocks. It is occasionally found in pegmatites, as in certain small deposits of the Southern Appalachians and the Black Hills of South Dakota, or is present in a typical contact-metamorphic silicated zone in limestone, as in some of the deposits of the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. In general, however, it is found in well-defined fissure veins in the outer parts of granitic intrusions and extending out into the surrounding rocks. With the cassiterite are often found minerals of tungsten, molybdenum, and bismuth, as well as sulphides of iron, copper, lead, and zinc, and in some cases there is evidence of a rough zonal arrangement. The deposits of Cornwall and of Saxony show transitions from cassiterite veins close to the intrusions into lead-silver veins at a greater distance. The gangue is usually quartz, containing smaller amounts of a number of less common minerals--including lithium mica, fluorite, topaz, tourmaline, and apatite. The wall rocks are usually strongly altered and in part are replaced by some of the above minerals, forming coarse-grained rocks which are called "greisen." The origin of cassiterite veins, in view of their universal association with granitic rocks, is evidently related to igneous intrusions. The occurrence of the veins in distinct fissures in the granite and in the surrounding contact-metamorphic zone indicates that the granite had consolidated before their formation, and that they represent a late stage in the cooling. The association with minerals containing fluorine and boron, and the intense alteration of the wall rocks, indicate that the temperature must have been very high. It is probable that the temperature was so high as to cause the solutions to be gaseous rather than liquid, and that what have been called "pneumatolytic" conditions prevailed; but evidence to decide this question is not at present available.