Dr. Daubeny on the Geology of Srcily. 247 
Catania, and in a few other places, where the rock has es- 
caped being covered by the lavas of Mount Etna. 
I traced these beds uninterruptedly, from Terranuova to 
Cape Passero, and found them to consist either of a soft 
earthy looking limestone, generally of a straw colour, which, 
in some of its varieties, resembled the beds occurring in the 
oolite of this country, or of a breccia, in which nodules of a 
more compact limestone were imbedded in the earthy look- 
ing basis, before described. 
In the south of the island, near the town of Ragusa, this form- 
ation contains beds of limestone of a black colour, owing to the 
presence of bituminous matter,* with which it is so strongly 
impregnated, that thin pieces of it will burn ina candle, leav- 
ing an earthy residuum; and it is even said, that the inhabit- 
ants use it as fuel. Near Palagenia, west of Lentini, is a 
Jake called Lago Naftia, which is constantly giving out petro- 
Jeum; it is situated in the same formation.{ In many places 
natural caverns are found, in which a large quantity of nitre 
is collected, the constituents being probably furnished, in a 
great measure, by the dung of bats, which resort there in vast 
numbers, 
It is curious to observe, that the natural caverns are fre- 
quently incrusted with stalactite, though the artificial exca- 
vations, found in great numbers on the same spot, the anti- 
quity of which cannot be questioned, seem altogether free 
from them.} 
In the country between Terranuova and Cape Passero, 
the only shells I observed, were near the little town of Scicli, 
where they consisted chiefly of pectens and ostree. I have 
* I find that the Ragusa limestone contains near 14 per cent. of bitu- 
minous matter. 
{ See Ferrara’s Pamphlet on the Lago Naftia. 
{ These artificial excavations are extremely curious, in an antiqua- 
rian point of view, and do not seem to have been sufficiently noticed. 
In some places, as at Pantalica, and in the valley of Ipsica, the rock is 
completely honeycombed with them; and it is difficult to tell, whether 
they are designed for sepulchres or habitations; at all events, they be- 
long to a people anterior to the period of Greek colonization. The 
general size of the excavations was about six feet square; and at Pan- 
talica, they were so regularly disposed along the abrupt face of the rock 
that they resemble the ranges of windows, belonging the several stories 
of along building. They seem to be confined to the south of the island, 
where the stene is soft, and easily hollowed ont 
