and the Phenomena accompanying their Elevation, 19 



by marine mollusca. Here was situated the ancient Acradina*, 

 some of whose remains, nearly crumbled to dust, are seen form- 

 ing a thick bed along the tops of the lower cliff's, which are gra- 

 dually yielding to the attacks of the sea. It is here also that 

 the catacombs, latomioef, and other ancient excavations, are met 

 with ; and, besides these, which are either wholly or in part ar- 

 tificial, there are several other caverns, which were undoubtedly 

 formed by Nature, and which I shall now endeavour to describe. 

 They are all situated in the inland cliff", and are at once distin- 

 guished from those which were the work of man by their irre- 

 gular forms, by their sides being pierced by lithodomi, and by 

 some of them containing the bones of extinct quadrupeds. The 

 latter interesting fact was first discovered only about eight 

 months ago. One of these caves, the Grotta di Gesu e Maria, 

 had been built up in front, and converted into a chapel some 

 centuries ago. It is situated beyond the Capuchin Convent, 

 about two miles north of Syracuse, about a quarter of a mile in 

 a straight line from the present shore, and 70 feet above the 

 level of the sea. In its present state (for it has probably been 

 altered by its having been converted into a chapel) it is about 

 100 feet long, its greatest breadth is nearly 80 feet, and its 

 greatest height about 30 feet. In November last year, exca- 

 vations were first made in its floor, for the burial of the dead, 

 and the important discovery was then made of a great deposit 

 there of antediluvian elephants, hippopotami, and other extinct 

 quadrupeds. Some of these bones were sent to the museum of 

 Palermo, others were deposited in that of Syracuse. The ex- 

 cavations have been discontinued for some time, the floor has 

 been restored to its former state, and it was therefore only in 

 my power to procure a few fragments of the bones which had 

 been collected by a person in Syracuse. The deposit in which 

 they are found is a loose calcareous sand, with a little clay, 

 which also contains, especially near the top (according to the in- 

 formation I received from the man who had worked there), 

 large fragments of the tertiary limestone. 



A few months ago, bones were discovered in another of these 



• Acradina, the citadel of Syracuse, taken bj Marcellus, the Roman con- 

 sul, 

 t X^atomise are prisons cut out of the solid rock bv Dionysius. 



' b2 



