CUPROUS IODIDE 1263 along which the Cu ions can move. The temperature factors for the Cu atoms in octahedral sites were appropriately large.In our single-crystal X-ray study of CuI 12R no electron density is found in octahedral sites. The possibility of the crystal containing domains with the layered kind of structure proposed by Kurdyumova & Baranova (1961) is considered unlikely and we prefer the local ordering indicated in Fig. 2, where each I atom is surrounded by a tetrahedron of Cu atoms, or perhaps a completely random distribution over the tetrahedral sites. The temperature factors for Cu are somewhat larger than those for I (see Table 1). The thermal motion is essentially isotropic. Unfortunately the conductivity of polytype 12R could not be determined because the crystals obtained were too small.Clearly techniques for obtaining good single crystals of CuI in its various phases and polytypes are desirable in order to clarify the role of structure in determining ionic conductivity. The use of PH3-saturated solvents may prove useful in the synthesis of single crystals of metal iodides. Abstract. Mg(NCS)2.4H20, monoclinic, P2~/a, a = 7.488 (2), b = 9.030 (2), c = 7.869 (2) A, fl = 113.63 (1) °, V = 487.5 (2)A 3, Z = 2, D C = 1.45 Mg m -3. The structure has been determined by Patterson and Fourier methods and has been refined to R = 0.029 for 807 observed reflections.