i LLL ILLS LLL II LLL OLE EL IS LIE SS 
ENVIRONS OF NICE. 44] 
petrifactions, shewing that the deposition of shells had ceased 
and commenced again. 
The occurrence of these marine remains proves, in the most 
satisfactory manner, that the sea must have flowed greatly 
above the level of these rocks, at a time when they were torn 
asunder in all directions; and, as if to prove that these opera- 
tions had been carried on slowly, I found on the sides of 
some of the fissures, since filled up with the Mediterranean 
marble, the perforations of the pholas, with the shell of that 
animal remaining in its place. 
But besides the hills composed of solid materials, there are 
others of much importance, whetlier considered as to their ex- 
tent, their altitude, or the geological inferences which may be 
drawn from their structure and appearance,—I mean those 
‘formed of gravel, principally occupying the west side of the 
district. When travelling along the banks of the Rhone, 
from Lyons to Avignon, I was much struck with the enor- 
mous quantity of debris spread over a great proportion of 
that line, and all or nearly all belonging to the alpine range 
through which this mighty river flows. The debris on the 
banks of the Var is of the same nature, composed of masses 
of granite, mica-slate, quartz and jasper, pieces of compact 
actynolite, and serpentine; but, so far as I perceived, there 
were no fragments that could be referred to the trap rocks. 
Saussure, § 1428. states, that he saw nothing among the 
gravel of the Var but limestone and sandstone; but he had 
certainly not examined with his usual acuteness. The hills 
formed of this gravel rise with a sharp acclivity from the 
plain and the beach, forming a round-backed range, and of an 
uniform elevation, but rising gradually from the height of 500 
or 600 feet, till they rest high on the sides of Mount Cao. 
Looking down upon this mass of alluvial matter from the sum- 
Vox. VIII. P. IT. 3K mit 
