280 On the Tertiary and Secondary Rocks forming the 



Temple of Canova, stands upon the first ledges of the scaglia, 

 which rock here rises into the Alps. The upper beds are of 

 a red colour, with some white and green blotches, are very 

 slaty, occasionally contain layers of flint, dip S.S.E. 30° to 

 35?, and pass downwards into more compact and thick beds, 

 from which variegated marbles are extracted. During my 

 short examination I could detect no organic remains in the 

 scaglia of this district ; in which respect, as well as in 

 mineralogical structure, it seemed to be quite identical with 

 the calcarious rock of the Euganean Hills*. 



A perfect conformity of dip and bearing of the tertiary to 

 the secondary or ammonite deposits is exhibited in the pre- 

 ceding section ; but their junction, as has been stated, is ob- 

 scured by the denudation in the valley of Urgana, and all along 

 the base of the Alps between Possagno and Bassano it is con- 

 cealed by vast accumulations of alluvial detritus. 



II. The river Brenta, however, in issuing from the Tyrol, 

 cuts transversely through all the deposits from the oolitic 

 series to the most recent, and exposes a most unequivocal 

 junction between the secondary and tertiary rocks, which has 

 not yet, as far as I am aware, been noticed by any geologist. 

 I will describe this section like the former in a descending 

 order. 



The youngest beds at Bassano consist of conglomerates, 

 with subordinate and irregular layers of yellow sand, the whole 

 dipping gently away to the plain from the low hillocks on 

 which that town is situated. A little above the bridge the 

 conglomerate forms cliffs on both banks of the river, from 

 fifteen to twenty feet in height, dipping 20° to 25° S.S.E. 

 Ascending the Brenta, and thus approaching the Alps, the 

 lower beds of conglomerate become more highly inclined; and 

 thinning out as at Asolo, they finally pass into yellow sand- 

 stone and calciferous grit. The sandstone is micaceous, con- 

 tains in certain parts many green grains, and hydrate of iron, 

 and the characteristic fossils were Pectens, and other bivalve 

 shells, with Echini, &c. After this the inclination of the strata 

 increases rapidly ; and previous to reaching the village of St. 

 Eusebio, the dip already amounts to 40° S.S.E. Green sand- 

 stone and blue marl succeed to the above ; the surfaces of the 

 more indurated beds being dotted with nummulites, and the 

 marls full of shells similar to those described between Castel 

 Cucco and Possagno. These are most instructively exhibited 

 on the right bank near the village of Sarzon, where the stony 



on informed by the Marchese Parolini, that in other parts of this 

 neighbourhood the same rock does contain ammonites, belemnites, &c. i for 

 this we hare also the authority of Fortis, Maraschini, Professor Catullo, and 

 Dr. Pollini, so that the scaglia may be considered the equivalent of the 

 Chalk, a place already assigned to it by Prof. Auckland. 



