Notices of Memoirs — Bellamy's Map of Cyprus. 121 



stituents are principally water-worn fragments of Trypanian lime- 

 stones, marbles, and flints. 



The breccias are compounded of unworn fragments of the older 

 Trypanian limestones, and are of frequent occurrence along the 

 flanks of the Kyrenia Mountains. They vary in hue and are either 

 blue, pink, yellow, brown, or white, and at times they combine 

 fragments of all these varieties, producing an agreeable effect. 



^i C- ^i ■H' Cf C' 



No fossil remains have yet been found in any part of the 

 Kythraean Series. 



Gaudry's description of these beds, as corresponding with the 

 Macignos of Italy, would appear to place them alongside the tassello 

 or allied to the Vienna sandstones or ' Flysch.' They belong 

 probably to the Upper Eocene series. Having regard to the 

 frequent flexures and undulations of these beds, I doubt if their 

 thickness amounts to more than 2,000 feet, though Gaudry put it 

 at 6,000. 



4, The Idalian Series (Oligocene). — Probably the most characteristic 

 of the geological formations represented in Cyprus are the grey 

 friable and the white calcareous tabular marls, the latter of intense 

 whiteness. Occasionally they pass into pure chalk, and in many 

 localities contain quantities of flint — pink, greenish, or translucent — 

 occurring in bands of from four to six inches in thickness. In the 

 grey marls of the Oligocene are intercalated large masses of gypsum 

 and selenite, but their prevailing characteristic is friable matter, 

 yellow, brown, or grey-green, of the consistency of clay. 



These two groups of beds are distributed all over the island, and 

 are indicated on the map by a yellow tint. The white marls reach 

 their greatest development on the southern side of the great igneous 

 masses of the Troodos Range. From the neighbourhood of Kophino 

 and Lefkara right through the southern slopes of these hills, they 

 are in great force. 



Ifc may be remarked that the white marls occupy that part of 

 the island where the best wine comes from. The so-called ' Wine 

 Villages ' — Ag.^ Ambrosios, Mallia, Vasa, Omodhos, Kilani, etc. — are 

 all within this area, and in this neighbourhood the aspect of the 

 country resembles the wide rolling downs and chalk hills of 

 Wiltshire, but the illusion is dispelled when one perceives the deep 

 gorges with their precipitous sides in which the torrents flow. 



The intense whiteness of these tabular marls has, no doubt, 

 a considerable influence upon the temperature of the atmosphere 

 over the region where they are found. The glare from the white 

 soil is extremely painful to the eyes, necessitating the use of coloured 

 glasses to protect them ; and the heat thrown back from the bare 

 white rocks is frequently intolerable, aggravated as it is by the 

 infrequency of foliage and shelter-giving trees. 



In the neighbourhood of Dali, where the conspicuous development 



^ Ag. (incorrectly printed "Ay." in Mr. Bellamy's Key to the Map of Cj-prus) is 

 a contraction for "Aytos, Haghios, = Saint, prefixed to many names of towns and 

 villages in Cyprus. — Edit. Geol. Mag. 



