4 On certain Newer Deposits in Sicily, 



fpei* part of the Monte Salvadore near Lugano. I could find no 

 trace of organic remains in any of the hills of this formation near 

 Palermo. 



Throughout the whole plain of Palermo beds of coarse 

 limestone and conglomerate, containing shells of existing Medi- 

 terranean species, are found in horizontal strata, which extend 

 as far as the foot of the limestone and dolomite hills. They 

 rise very gently from the shore towards the hills, and their 

 greatest elevation, I should think, does not exceed 200 feet. 

 They probably include two distinct formations, viz. the tertiary 

 and the new conglomerate already mentioned ; but this having 

 been the first spot which I examined in Sicily, I was nbt yet 

 aware of the distinction between the two, which subsequent ob- 

 servations in other parts enabled me to detect, and I therefore 

 unfortunately overlooked their relations. 



The tertiary rocks are well seen in many situations, where 

 they are quarried for building-stones, and particularly on the 

 west side of the Bay, under the Monte Pelegrino. They con- 

 sist principally of a coarse yellowish or white limestone, sepa- 

 rated occasionally by thin beds of a conglomerate. The former 

 is composed of small grains of lime, generally adhering together 

 without any cement, and having the appearance, at first sight, 

 of an oolite ; but the grains are not round, and many of them 

 appear to be small rolled fragments of shells. Some of the beds 

 have rather a firmer texture, contain clay or sand-, and resemble 

 very much the calcaire grossier of Paris. The conglomerate of 

 the tertiary formation occurs in thin beds, in the limestone, and 

 is composed of small rounded fragments of limestone and 

 quartz, with a calcareous cement. Shells, belonging chiefly, I 

 believe, to existing Mediterranean species, are abundant through- 

 out the tertiary rocks, by far the most common being pectens 

 and oysters, which are often seen arranged in thin beds. The 

 genera Cardia, Pectunculus, Area, with Echini, Serpuloe and 

 Corals, are also very common. In no part of the plain of Paler- 

 mo are the tertiary beds at all deranged ; they everywhere retain 

 a perfectly horizontal position ; but on a short excursion which I 

 made along the valley of the Oretus, I observed them to be in- 

 clined at a considerable angle, with a dip {speaking in general 

 terms), towards the north-west, and they here attain an eleva- 



