Notices of the Geology and Mineralogy of Sicily. 203 
fishes, particularly at Syracuse; when sufficiently hard is 
wrought as marble. The marbles of Sicily are all compact 
and coloured. ‘The white crystalline marbles in the an- 
cient ruins of Sicily are from Greece or Italy. The most 
noted Marbles of Sicily are the brown, red, &c. of Taormi- 
na; the yellow, of Castronuovo; those of Trapani having 
almost every shade of colour; the red, the dendritic, &c. 
of Palermo; the Lumachella, or snail marble; and the 
calcareous Breccias of Catania, &c. , Coarse Shell Lime- 
stone forms a crust over the whole of Sicily, with the few 
exceptions already pointed out; all the islands between 
Sicily and Africa, except the volcanic island, Partellaria ; 
and the country around Tunis, where it is completely hori- 
zontal. It is always stratiform, the strata from many feet 
to a few inches in thickness; in the centre of the islands, 
they are horizontal, in Valdemone turned towards the chain 
of Pelorus, and every where along the coast dipping down- 
wards towards the sea. In the volcanic districts they are 
variously inclined, often alternating with beds of lava as 
many as sixty times. It is almost entirely made up of shells, 
among which are ammonites, belemnites, gryphites, turbin~ 
ites, chamites, &c. and immense quantities of madrepores 
and other corals. Oolites are abundant, particularly at~ 
Pedagaggi, near Catania. Calcareous tufas, consisting of 
masses of shells, barely cemented, are common. 
The hills subordinate to the limestone mountains, and the 
plains consist of chalk, and calcareous breccias, and beds of 
marl and clay. The chalk is generally yellow or brown, 
and interspersed with beds of flints and quartz pebbles; 
sometimes there are large masses of uncemented shells, of- 
ten siliceous and of an enormous size ; ; (probably similar to 
the oyster-shell beds of Georgia. ) 
Stalactites are very abundant in the numerous limestone 
caverns of Sicily. ‘The most splendid are in the grotto of 
St. Rosalia, near Palermo, and in the grotto nuova, in Val 
di Noto. When these stalactites are large, compact, and 
with a fine arrangement of differently coloured rings, they 
are called alabasters. ‘The finestare at St. Rosalia, Trap- 
ani, and Taormina. 
Crystallized Carbonate is found in very fine and perfect 
specimens, in the primitive rocks of Pelorus, and in the 
cavities and pores of ancient lavas, whether buried or not 
