en Heo Ss es pei ty eee ee 
Dr. Maubeny on the Geology of Sicily. 251 
The explanation of these phenomena must be reserved for 
another occasion; at present I have only time to advert te 
the facts themselves. 
The volcanic rocks just considered may, in conformity 
with my friend Professor Buckland’s nomenclature, be term- 
ed Antediluvian,* as they have been all subjected to the ope- 
ration of the same general cause to which the formation of the 
valleys must be referred, 
It is therefore plain, that no craters are to be expected to 
exist in rocks so circumstanced, although it has been errone- 
ously stated that there is one on Monte Vennera, and others . 
on some of the contiguous hills.) The whole of this class, in 
short, though probably not formed, under the pressure of tke 
entire ocean, must have been produced, partially at least, un- 
der water, ee that at a period antecedent to the existing 
‘order of thin 
This, indeed: appears to be likewise the case with some of 
the lavas that occur in the neighbourhood of Etna, in the 
greenstone of the Cyclopean Islands, near Catania, which, 
though now severed apart from the mainland, and from each 
other, once constituted a continued stratum, that seems ante- 
cedent to the mountain, at the foot of which it is now placed. 
* In adopting this term, I mean to express no opinion with respect ta. 
the much agitated question, as - a identity of the particular deluge re- 
co 
of the valleys and th e formation of beds of gravel are to 
not by asuecession of prep? 
