572 



evidently belonging to distinct species of fish; one is small, rhom- 

 boidal, and coated with a bright enamel 3 the other is peculiar from 

 the mucronate and grooved character of one extremity, and the cy- 

 cloid outline of the other. At the same place were found scales 

 resembling those of Megalichthys, several small teeth of Diplodus 

 gibbosus, and several osseous portions of some large fish not yet 

 determined. Near Ringley, about five miles from Peel, the same 

 roofstone was found in another pit, which the author has not yet 

 further examined j but in both pits one or two species of Unio 

 occur, as well as remains of Stigiuariajicoides, Calamites nodosus, and 

 other plants. 



A paper " On the geology of the island of Zante," by Hugh Edwin 

 Strickland, Esq., F.G.S., was next read. 



The author commences by stating, that his observations were 

 the result of only a few days' residence. The structure of Zante is 

 more simple than that of the other Ionian islands ; and seems to 

 present an epitome of their component rocks in an almost unbroken 

 succession. 



The geological phenomena of Zante may be arranged under the 

 three heads of, I. Apennine Limestone; 2. Tertiary deposits 3 and 

 3. Mineral Springs. 



1. Apennine Limestone. — This name is adopted as being the most 

 convenient appellation for the vast deposit of compact, light-coloured 

 limestone in the south of Europe, especially on the shores of the 

 Adriatic. It is uniform in character for many thousand feet of vertical 

 thickness, and many hundred miles of horizontal extent. Its fossils, 

 though rare, show it to be the equivalent of the cretaceous, and perhaps 

 also of the oolitic series of Northern Europe. The formation con- 

 stitutes an anticlinal ridge, extending along the west coast of the 

 island, in a direction about N.N.W. and S.S.E., and it seems to be 

 the continuation of a similar ridge which passes through Cephalo- 

 nia. Along the E. side of the ridge, the strata dip from 30° to 45° 

 E.N.E. but to the west of Point Skinari an opposite dip commences, 

 and prevails, with local exceptions, to near Point Cheri, where it re- 

 sumes the eastwardly inclination. 



The tertiary strata occur only on the eastern side of this mountain- 

 ous ridge ; the western being formed of a series of almost perpen- 

 dicular cliffs, upwards of 600 feet high. 



This white limestone often assumes the character of the hard 

 chalk of England ; and though no flints were noticed in it in Zante, 

 yet they are not unfrequent in the same formation in Corfu. Organic 

 remains are occasionally found, and consist of Nummulites, fragments 

 of Hippurites, &c. The limestone abounds in faults and fractures, as 

 well as caverns, subterranean rivers, and thermal and mineral springs. 

 In these respects no less than in mineral structure, the Apennine 

 limestone presents a close analogy to the carboniferous limestone 

 of Northern Europe, for which it has often been mistaken, 



2. Tertiary deposits. — These strata repose on the eastern flank of 

 the limestone range^ and extend thence to the east coast. They form 



