1845.] E. FORBES AND SPRATT ON LYCIA. 9 



which open seawards. The mountain mass of Cragus rises to 7500 

 feet, that of the Lycian Taurus to 7000 feet, that of Massicytus to 

 10,000, Soosoos-Dagh to 7000, and Mount Solyma to 7000. The 

 plains or yailahs which these mountain ridges wall in, vary in ele- 

 vation from 2000 to 6000 feet above the sea. They have no out- 

 lets ; the rivers which water them pour into caverns, and reappear 

 again at the bases of the mountains in the low country near the sea. 

 Geologically, they appear to be valleys of elevation. 



Sedimentary rocks. — The oldest stratified rock in Lycia is the 

 Scaglia or Apennine limestone^ usually referred to the cretaceous 

 epoch. It forms the great mass of the country and the highest 

 mountains, 10,000 feet above the sea; it is usually a cream-coloured 

 compact limestone, sometimes a gray or pink stone of looser texture, 

 and in places brecciated. In Milyas it degenerates into a soft 

 chalky limestone, resembling chalk, and difficult to distinguish from 

 the freshwater tertiary limestones. Near Lake Caralitis the harder 

 and softer beds of the scaglia are interstratified : the more compact 

 scaglia is usually very thick-bedded. The strata dip at all possible 

 angles, and are often much disturbed and contorted : the dip is 

 generally from the axis of the mountain chains. Fossils are very 

 scarce. Numm.ulites, Pectens, and corals of the genus Astrcea were 

 found in it. Strata of greenish sandstone or shale (macigno ?) rest 

 upon the scaglia, in most cases conformably : they contain traces of 

 vegetable impressions. A coarse green gravelly sandstone near 

 Almalee, apparently of the same age with the shales, contains Num- 

 mulites. 



Marine tertiary beds are met with at four localities in Lycia, viz. 

 Saaret near Antiphellus, Gendevar, Armoutlee, and near Arsa. 

 They are probably all of the same age, and contain numerous fos- 

 sils: they consist of marls, shales and conglomerates. Thirty- 

 four species of mollusca were collected in these beds, of which 

 twelve were identical with or nearly allied to Bordeaux species, 

 three or four were Sicilian, and two identical with Touraine fossils 

 in Mr. Lyell's collection. The beds at Saaret are elevated 2500 

 feet above the sea, those at Gendevar 2700, those at Armootlee 

 6000, and those at Arsa between 2000 and 3000 feet. The authors 

 regard these marine tertiaries as belonging to the miocene period. 



Freshwater tertiaries are extensively developed in Lycia, espe- 

 cially in the great valleys. They consist of beds of white marl and 

 limestone, usually capped by conglomerate ; they are often 300 to 

 400 feet thick ; fossils are found in them in the valley of the Xan- 

 thus and near Cibyra. A Limneus, identical with the Adelina elegans 

 of Cantraine, another species allied to L. longiscatus^ an undescribed 

 Paludina^ a Planorbis and some species of Uiiio^ were the principal 

 forms observed. In these tertiary basins the beds are horizontal in 

 the centre, and inclined towards the sides ; they are regarded by the 

 authors (from a comparison with the other freshwater tertiaries of 

 Asia Minor) as subsequent to the marine beds, and probably of the 

 older pliocene period. 



Extensive deposits of more recent origin also occur. The great 



