J. W. Judd — On Volcanos. 109 



Vulcano, no change was detected in the state of the small fumarole 

 which exists in the most recent of the craters of Vulcanello. 



During the whole period of these eruptions, however, Stromboli 

 was in a state of extraordinary activity, and it is said that outbursts 

 of the two mountains occurred almost simultaneously. 



On the other hand, I was assured that no correspondence could 

 be discovered between the state of activity of Yulcano and the 

 nature of the weather at the time. 



Having sketched the history of Vulcano, so far as we have 

 materials available for the purpose, it will now be interesting to 

 consider its present state, and to discuss the origin of its various 

 features. 



As pointed out by Spallanzani, an admirable view of Yulcano and 

 Vulcanello may be obtained from any of the high grounds in the 

 southern part of Lipari. In order that the description of the island 

 may be more readily followed, I have given, in Plate VII., a sketch 

 taken from the mountain above Punta della Crepazza in Lipari, 

 showing the great central cone of Vulcano, with its series of en- 

 circling older crater-rings in the distance, and Vulcanello and the 

 Faraglione in the foreground. 



The southern half of the island is made up of a series of semi- 

 circular ridges, each of which exactly resembles, on a small scale, 

 the well-known Somma. These old crater-rings, for such they 

 evidently are, consist of alternations of lava-streams and beds of 

 agglomerate, the whole interpenetrated and bound together by in- 

 numerable dykes. On their outer sides these ridges slope gradually 

 down to the sea ; but towards the interior of the island they present 

 bold precipitous cliffs. In these, as in the cliffs of Somma, the 

 characteristic features of volcanic architecture can be admirably 

 studied ; and equal facilities are afforded to the geologist, where the 

 sea has eaten into these old cones, as is especially the case on the 

 south-west of the island. (See Fig. 4, page 15.) 



These crater-rings, which culminate in Monte Saraceno (1581 feet 

 in height), la Sommata, Monte Aria, and many other peaks con- 

 siderably more than 1000 feet above the sea-level, are four in 

 number, and are separated from one another by semicircular, flat- 

 bottomed valleys, which are called Pianos. The whole of this 

 southern part of the island is thickly covered with volcanic sand, 

 produced in part by the decomposition of its rocks, but to which the 

 ejections of the central cone are making constant additions. Con- 

 sequently the island is almost a desert, a few fishermen only living 

 on its southern shores, while some vine-growers maintain a hard 

 struggle with the elements in sheltered nooks in the deep Pianos. 

 No roads or even foot-tracks can be kept open, where every storm 

 raises and redistributes the covering of volcanic sand ; and in this 

 the traveller sinks to the knees at every stride, while the few 

 cultivated patches have to be protected from the dust-clouds by 

 fences of reeds. 



It is clear that the southern part of Vulcano has been the site of 

 the formation of at least four volcanic cones, the central axes of 



