14! On certain Newer Deposits in Sicily .^ 



bear to the west of south. These appear to indicate that the 

 mountains of the central chain have undergone at least two dis- 

 tinct elevations, the connection of which, with the views of Elie 

 de Beaumont, will be noticed hereafter. 



A great formation of clay is first met with a short way to the 

 north of Nicosia. It extends up the valleys, reaching high up 

 the sides of the sandstone hills, and, owing to its soft nature, it 

 is worn down into a number of deep ravines. Its general colours 

 are grey, greenish-grey and red ; it has a talcky lustre on its 

 fresh fracture, is friable, and breaks into irregular-shaped frag- 

 ments, and it contains a few very thin beds of indurated marl. 

 In many places a white efflorescence is seen on its surface. Every 

 year great masses slip down, and are washed away by the rains. 

 Its strata are variously inclined, bent or contorted. The salt- 

 mines between Castro Giovanni and Alimena are situated in this 

 formation. 



To the south of Nicosia the clay is succeeded by gypsum, of 

 a white or grey colour, and in very thick beds. A great part 

 of the Monte St Giovanni appears to be composed of it, and it 

 has there two directions, being in one place nearly W. 18 S.*, in 

 another it is nearly south. It is associated with beds of marl and 

 thin beds of limestone, but from not having been able to detect 

 any fossils in them, I am unable to say to what formation they 

 ought to be referred. They continue as far as the Monte Nis- 

 suria, where they are succeeded by the old and new tertiary 

 rocks, which now alone occupy the whole country. 



From Castro Giovanni hy way of' Leonforte^ St PMllippo 

 d'Argire and Paterno, to Catania. 



The country for many miles round Castro Giovanni, and in 

 all probability a very large part of the island, is composed of 

 blue marls and. a white cretaceous limestone, the higher hills 

 being capped with calcareous sandstone and more indurated 

 marls, which form bold precipices round their summits. From 

 the soft and perishable nature of the marls, causing them to be 

 always every where covered with debris, from the imperfect state 

 of their fossils, the indistinctness of their stratification, and the 



• East and west by compass. 



