and Vegetation of Sicily. 1138 
of Catania, but are seen again north of that district, near 
Catania and a few other places, where the rock has escaped 
the lavas of Etna. These beds may be traced uninterruptedly 
from Terra Nuova to Cape Passaro; they consist either of a 
soft earthy limestone, generally of a Stee colour, which in some 
of its varieties posembles the beds occurring in the oolite of 
England, or of a breccia, in which nodules of a more compact 
limestone are embedded in the earthy basis before described. 
At Cape Passaro the fundamental rock is a volcanic tuff, 
covered towards the summit of the cliff by a bed of a more 
crystalline and compact limestone, containing numerous or- 
ganic remains. 
Two or three alternations of the volcanic and calcareous 
strata occur within a few miles of the Cape. From hence for 
thirty miles northwards, the limestone rocks continue without 
interruption; but the most numerous alternations are seen 
between: Monte Vennera and Lentini. 
On Mount Etna itself, it will be unnecessary to make any 
observations, therefore I will conclude with the opinion of 
Professor Daubeny, that ‘ the volcanic rocks of Sicily are of 
two epochs at least, namely, antediluvian, which alternate with 
calcareous rocks, and postdiluvian, which comprise the greater 
part of the lavas that have flowed, at different times, from 
Mount Etna. It is probable that this mountain was burning 
at a period antecedent to the time of Homer; and there are 
volcanic rocks at its foot, which seem to have been produced 
before the commencement of the present order of things.” 
The following extract from the accurate Memoir of Sicily, 
by Capt. W. H. Smyth, R. N., will point out the localities of 
the principal Sicilian minerals : — ** Masses of Pozzalana occur 
at Lentini, Vizzini, Palazzuclo, and Patica; and various sub- 
stances, that have also evidently undergone the action of fire, 
are observable in several parts of the interior, where the super- 
incumbent strata have been riven by torrents. ‘The central 
divisions of the island contain large tracts of bitumen; and, 
though sulphur is rather a cause than a product of volcanoes, 
it may be noticed that it is found in immense quantities at 
Mussumeli, Cattolica, Girgenti, Naro, Mazzarino, and Alicata. 
In the neighbourhood of Regalmuto, Fiume di Nisi, Caccamo, 
Savoca, and San-Giuseppe, are found silver, lead, copper, 
cinnabar, marcasite, emery, and antimony. Auriferous pyrites, 
lapis lazuli, mercury, alum, and coal similar to that from 
Bovey in Devonshire, abound in the hills and valleys of 
Nicosia, Ali, Tortorici, and Messina. ‘ 
* Rock-salt, bitumen, and gypsum, particularly the latter, 
abound at Castro-Giovanni, Mistretta, Caltanisetta, Ragusa, 
Vox. IIT. — No. r2. n 
