During the Viking extended mission the following were performed: (1) The backhoe magnets on Viking Lander (VL) 2 were successfully cleaned, followed by a test involving successive insertions of the cleaned backhoe into the surface. Rapid saturation of the magnets confirmed evidence from primary mission results that the magnetic mineral in the Martian surface is widely distributed, most probably in the form of composite particles of magnetic and nonmagnetic minerals. (2) An image of the VL 2 backhoe taken via the ¿4 magnifying mirror demonstrates the fine-grained nature of the attracted magnetic material. (3) The reference test chart magnet on VL 1, and by inference also on VL 2, continued to attract magnetic particles from the martian atmosphere. The new results generally are in agreement with previous estimates of 1--7% of magnetic mineral, probably maghemite, in the surface material. The presence of maghemite and its occurrence as a pigment in, or a thin coating on, all mineral particles or as discrete, finely divided and widely distributed crystallites, are consistent with data from the inorganic analysis experiments and with laboratory simulations of results of the biology experiments on Mars.