Capacitive-displacement transducers were used in an apparatus designed to measure the specific dissipation constant Q-1 and to determine the details of the shape of stress-strain hysteresis loops for rocks. For room-dry Westerly Granite at room temperature and pressure, hysteresis loops were recorded for cyclic strains having amplitudes between 0.6¿10-6 to 0.5¿10-5 at a period of 5 seconds. Two types of wave forms were used: a quasisinusoid at the lower strains and a distorted sinusoid having flattended peaks at the larger strains. Loops having sharp corners or cusps reported in the literature were not observed. The measured QE (for the Young's modulus mode) at 0.2 Hz and 10-6 strain amplitude was 87¿7.