ENVIRONS OF NICE. 431 
stone of Derbyshire, and was accompanied with vast quantities 
of chert or flint, disposed in continuous lines, nearly horizon- 
tal, and parallel with the strata. In using the terms jirst and 
second, 1 involve no theory, although, perhaps, I would not 
have been far from the truth, had I adopted the more scienti- 
fic language of Transition and Fletz. 
The first limestone, then, occurs in beds, distinctly stratified, 
inclined more or less to the east or north-east, being very un- 
favourable to vegetation, where the situations are exposed: the 
hills are often so destitute of covering, that the lines of the 
strata may be traced from the base on one side to that on the 
other, as distinctly as the ridges in a fresh-ploughed field. 
This limestone is sometimes of a very compact texture, with 
an even large conchoidal fracture, generally smooth, but occa- 
sionally approaching to splintery: it breaks in sharp-edged 
fragments, faintly translucent, and somewhat scopiform: its 
colour is a pale brown or drab, and it presents no trace of 
crystallisation. It is in all likelihood from this variety the name 
of Compact Limestone was derived. In some of the strata, 
however, a gradual transition from the compact to the crystal- 
line may be traced; and as the crystallisation becomes more 
perfect, the colouring matter disappears, so that we have it 
sometimes as white as the statuary marble of Carrara. Its tex- 
ture also changes as the crystallisation proceeds : it first be- 
comes splintery, and then passes on to a rough uneven frac- 
ture, consequently differing very much from the saccharine 
structure of the statuary marbles. In the little hollows which 
occasionally occur in this variety, we find the calcareous rhomb - 
in groups of crystals very regularly formed; and where the 
crystallisation appears to have been pushed a little farther, the 
mass has become extremely friable, with a gritty feel, and 
seems to be entirely formed of rhombs. These strata have 
sometimes, 
