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CHAP. III. 



THE COASTS OF SICILY. 

 THE GROTTO OF SAN-CIRO. TOERE DELL* ISOLA. 



Departure for Naples with MM. Milne Edwards and Blanchard. 

 Arrival in Sicily ; aspect of the Bay of Palermo. Excursions to 

 the grotto of San- Giro. Osseous caverns ; osseous breccias. 

 Installation on board the Santa Rosalie. Departure from 

 Palermo. The grottoes of Mont Pellegrino. The Blatta 

 orientalis. Arrival at Torre dell' Isola. The Padre Antonino. 

 Structure of the coast. Our sailors. Explorations. Trans- 

 parence of the water in the bay. Principal species belonging 

 to the littoral districts. Causeways built by the Vermetus. 

 Occupations ; mode of life. Departure for Castellamare. 



A SCIENTIFIC commission, consisting of M. Milne 

 Edwards, M. Blanchard, and myself, was appointed, 

 in the Autumn of 1843, to visit the coasts of Sicily 

 by the Minister for Public Instruction, the Jardin 

 des Plantes, and the Academy of Sciences.* In ac- 

 cordance with our plan of travelling together, we all 

 left Paris on the 20th of March, 1844, and on the 

 28th of the same month we reached Naples. In 

 eight days we had traversed the whole of France ; 

 we had taken a glance at Lyons and Marseilles, 



* [A sketch of the history and constitution of the Jardin des 

 Plantes, and of the Academy of Sciences is given in the Appendix, 

 Note XII.] 



