1846.] SPRATT ON THE GEOLOGY OF EUBCEA AND B(EOTIA. 67 



tifyit. This formation reposes horizontally upon the lower beds of 

 freshwater origin in the neighbourhood of the village of Mitelinious. 

 A deep water-course from Mount Ampeloni cuts through these de- 

 posits, and exposes sections of the different strata, consisting of 

 about 150 feet of brownish and grey beds of sandy marl, sand- 

 stone, grit, and gravel containing pebbles of the rocks older than 

 the lacustrine deposits. 



From the absence of fossils I can only offer a conjecture with 

 regard to their origin, which I think to be marine. Deposits corre- 

 sponding to these will however be more fully described in the next 

 paper, on a part of Euboea and Bceotia. 



3. On the Geology of a part of ^\jbcea and Bceotia. 

 By Lieut. Spratt, R.N., F.G.S. 



Plate IV*. 



Since my examination of the freshwater deposits on the east coast 

 of the ^gean sea and in the island of Samos, I have been enabled 

 to pursue some geological researches on its western shores; and 

 there, as I had expected, I found corresponding formations in several 

 localities, establishing the fact of a great eocene lake having ex- 

 tended over the whole of the Grecian Archipelago, where now there 

 is a sea which in many places is known to be more than 300 fathoms 

 deep. 



I shall first briefly notice the distribution of the older rocks in 

 the Negropont. The southern part of the island is composed of 

 gneiss, mica schist, chlorite and crystalline marble, elevated into 

 very high ridges, and forming a very mountainous tract of country, 

 the highest peak of which is Mount Elias, near its south extremity. It 

 attains a height of 5000 feet. The formations dip in various direc- 

 tions and at all angles ; generally the dip is either to the N.W. or 

 S.E., and the angle not exceeding 25°. 



The marble was extensively quarried by the ancients ; numerous 

 deserted quarries exist along a range of coast fifteen miles in length, 

 in which columns and blocks of various sizes are still lying ready for 

 transportation, and some exceed thirty feet in length. The marble 

 is the Cipollino of the Italians, and these quarries seem to have been 

 the chief source which supplied Rome for many of its buildings. 



N.W. Section 2. Mount Olymbos to the neighbourhood of Alivori. 



Mt. Olymbos. 



/^^ Mt, Vathy. 



. ■ ' \- _i \ ,^^^ Aliveri. S.E. 



Sec. Shales. Shales. Secondary limestone. Mica schists. 



1. stone. 



These older rocks terminate at Aliveri, and are succeeded by 

 secondary rocks, composed of dark shales and limestone, containing 



* The geographical map Plate 2 exhibits the relative position of Samos, Eubcea, 

 Bceotia and Smyrna. 



F 2 



