76 NEWER PLIOCENE PERIOD. [Ch.VII. 



and before him, to the north, the cone of Etna (see diagram 

 No. 11). At the base of the cone he beholds a low line of 

 hills e, e (No. 11), formed of clays and marls, associated with 

 yellowish sand, similar to the formation provincially termed 

 ' Creta,' in various parts of Sicily. 



This marine formation, which is composed partly of volcanic 

 and partly of sedimentary rocks, is seen to underlie the modern 

 lavas of Etna. To what extent it forms the base of the moun- 

 tain cannot be observed, for want of sections of the lower part 

 of the cone, but the marine sub-Etnean beds are not observed 

 to rise to a greater elevation than eight hundred, or, at the 

 utmost, one thousand feet above the level of the sea. We 

 should remind the reader, that the annexed drawing is not a 

 section, but an outline view of Etna, as seen from Primosole, 

 so that the proportional height of the volcanic cone, which is, 

 in reality, ten times greater than that of the hills of ' Creta,' at 

 its base, is not represented, the summit of the cone being ten 

 or twelve miles more distant from the plain of Catania, than 

 Licodia. 



Connexion of the sub-Etnean strata with those of the Val di 

 Noto. These marine strata are found both on the southern and 

 eastern foot of Etna, and it is impossible not to infer that they 

 belong to the inferior argillaceous series of the Val di Noto, 

 which they resemble both in mineral and organic characters. 

 In one locality they appear on the opposite sides of the Valley 

 of the Simeto, covered on the north by the lavas of Etna, and 

 on the south by the Val di Noto limestone. 



Val di Noto. No. 12. Etna. 



Section from Palernb by Lago di Naftla to Palagonla. 



a, Plain of the Simeto. b, Base of the cone of Etna, composed of modern lavas. 

 c, Limestone of the Val di Noto. d t Clay, sand, and associated submarine vol- 

 canic rocks. 



If in the country adjacent to the Lago di Naftia, through 



