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



The beds vary slightly ia texture, sometimes compact and 

 durable, and at other times soft, friable, and soiling the hands^ 

 They are almost invariably disposed in horizontal beds, having: 

 a surface coating or crust of tufa-like carbonate of lime. They 

 vary also in colour between light yellow to reddish brown, but its^ 

 hue is seldom any criterion for its texture. Those beds are found 

 principally at Kyrenia, a little to the west of the town, at the hill 

 of Ag. Paraskevi, Nicosia, at Famagusta, near Cape Pyla, and Cape 

 Gata, where the quality, appearance, and texture are all very 

 similar, namely, semi-compacted, buff-coloured, and easilj' worked 

 with the tool. 



At Yeri a darker, harder, and finer-grained material occurs. Near 

 Kalopsyda and Kouklia sepia-coloured, fine-grained, friable free- 

 stones are found in extensive masses. Near Strongylo and Vatili 

 they are straw-coloured, very friable, and fine-grained, having little 

 or no durability. Near Kyra is a coarse-grained rock, reddish or 

 brownish in hue, and of a durability equalling, if not surpassing, that 

 of the Ag. Paraskevi rock. 



At Ag. Phyla, near Limassol, are extensive quarries of a fine- 

 grained, light-yellow, compact stone, possessing many good qualities. 

 At Paphos the texture is coarse, less compact, and more friable than 

 is found among the coarse-grained qualities. It is dark brown in 

 colour. At Skoulli, in the valley of the Krysokhou Eiver, a compact, 

 fine-grained, light-yellow rock is found with horizontal veins or 

 bands of dark-grey or greenish-grey matter. 



From Yerolakko, on the west of Nicosia, following the banks of 

 the Pedias River as far as Deftera, are large masses of the fine 

 friable yellow variety, changing towards Aradiou into a clayey sand, 

 alternately dark brown or gi'ey green, suggestive of the presence of 

 glauconite. The argillaceous beds near Deftera contain numerous 

 Oyster shells — 0. edulis. 



Towards Laxia, south of Nicosia, are extensive deposits of oyster 

 shells, from the abundance of which is derived the name 

 * Ostrakoudhies,' given to a prominent hill on the west side of the 

 main road from Nicosia to Limassol. Great masses of friable rock 

 are found towards Ag. Sogoinenos, where the texture is very variable 

 and has produced striking results during the process of weathering. 



7. Brief Summary of the Physical History of the Island. — The 

 oldest strata represented in Cyprus are the Trypanian limestones, 

 the characteristic element of the Kyrenia Mountains. They have 

 been assigned to the Cretaceous age, and form the foundation or 

 platform on which the newer rocks have been laid down. Apparently 

 they formed part of an ancient land-surface during the greater part 

 of the Eocene period. Then came a subsidence of this land beneath 

 the sea, and in this sea were deposited the sandstones of the 

 Kythreean Series, which is referred to the latest part of the Eocene 

 period. 



The absence of fossil remains in the older strata led some 

 Continental geologists to believe that their deposition took place at 

 so great a depth under the sea as to be below the zone of life,. 



