8 On certain Newer Deposits in Sicily, 



The bone-breccias of the mountain of Beliemi do not possess 

 quite so much interest as those of Santo Giro, nor had I time 

 ta examine them with the same care that I bestowed upon the 

 latter. There are some circumstances connected with them, 

 however, which deserve attention, as being capable of throwing 

 light upon the manner in which these breccias were formed. 

 Both of the caves of the Monte Beliemi have a higher situation 

 than that of Santo Giro, the most easterly, which Signor Seina 

 calls the Grotta del Feudo, being 3352 feet ; the other, named 

 Grotta dei ben Fratelli, 320 feet above the level of the sea. 

 At the former, the bones are only found at the outside of the 

 cavern ; at the latter, they occur both within the cave and in 

 the talus which slopes from it to the plain below. The breccia 

 differs considerably from that of St Giro, but is of much less 

 extent, has not been so much excavated, and therefore cannot 

 be studied with the same facility. It contains large masses of 

 limestone ; the bones have a brown or black colour, and in some 

 cases a resinous lustre, are cemented together by a dark brown 

 clay, or by a whitish or grey lime, which occurs in spots or 

 streaks. In the Grotta dei ben Fratelli, it forms a very hard 

 mass, which I found very difficult to detach even with a pick- 

 axe. These caves appear to be situated much above the highest 

 point attained by the tertiary deposits in this neighbourhood, 

 and the relation of the bone-breccia with the tertiary beds, there- 

 fore, cannot be seen as at St Giro ; nor is there the slightest ap- 

 pearance in the caves themselves of the sea having been there; 

 no sea-shells, no traces of lithodomi are to be seen, and their 

 sides have not that smooth polished surface which is produced 

 by the action of the waves. They contain scarcely any sta- 

 lactites. 



I shall now give an account of the different formations which 

 I observed on the northern coast, between Palermo and the Gas- 

 tello di Tusa. 



From Palermo the tertiary rocks continue in horizontal strata 

 the whole way to Cape Melicia, forming a narrow belt between 

 the shore and the magnesiferous limestone hills which rise be- 

 hind, but which is separated from the sea at one spot, viz. by 

 the high limestone hills of the promontory of the Bay of Pa- 



