of Serpentine, S(C. in the Apennines. 201 



the fact ; * he says he has seen, in the same place, the jasper 

 resting on the limestone, &c. 



M. Cortesi t conceives that the serpentine of the Apen- 

 nines belongs to the transition series, and considers it, as do 

 all geologists, to be beneath the limestone of the Apennines, 

 and on seeing it rise above this rock, he, with them, supposes 

 that it pierces through the limestone formation with which 

 it is covered at Gropallo, near the torrent of Nure, in the 

 Parmesan states.^ 



He places the sandstone (arenaria) beneath the limestone, 

 considering it as the most ancient of the stratified rocks of 

 the Apennines. 



M. von Buch has said, in his travels in Norway (vol. 1. 

 p. 476, French trans.) and in his memoir on Gabbro, that 

 diallage rock is one of the most recent of the primitive class, 

 and that this rock and serpentine are placed between primi- 

 tive argillaceous schist and clay slate, and he cites Genoa, 

 where, he says, the serpentine is beneath the argillaceous 

 slate. He also cites Chiavari near Sesti, and Lavagna, the 

 environs of Spezia, Prato near Florence, &c. 



In the section of the Apennines from Bologna to Florence, 



* This opinion is so general, that lam disposed to suspect that in many 

 countries, even in Italy, there are two formations of serpentine rocks, 

 not because in the environs of Genoa, as well on the north of that town 

 as on the coast, the rocks with a serpentine base rest immediately on 

 transition calcareous schists, which only proves that the calcareo-sand- 

 stone formation is wanting at that place ; but because the greater num- 

 ber of Italian geologists admit them. M. Brocchi especially states in his 

 memoir on the promontory of Argentaro and the Isle of Gigho: " that 

 serpentine, very common throughout all the Siennois, occurs, as at the 

 promontory of Argentaro, at the lowest part, i. e. beneath the argilla- 

 ceous schist, the siliceo-calcareous breccia, the greywacke and limestone, 

 that it consequently is the most ancient, and ought to belong to the 

 primitive formation or most ancient transition period." At Falda-dello- 

 Scalandrino, it is seen, he says, covered by the limestone that forms the 

 summit of the mountain. (Bibhol : ital : 1818, tome xi. p, 76, 237, & 

 356). 



+ Saggi geologic! degli stati di Parma e Piacenza. I vol. 4to. Pii^- 

 cenza, 1819. 



J Ibid. p. 91, & 127. 



