]846.] SPRATT ON THE GEOLOGY OF EUBCEA AND BGEOTIA. 69 



series of similar rocks overlaid by the great mass of Hippurite lime- 

 stone in other parts of the island, as may be seen in the previous 

 section No. % which crosses a part of the mountain chain near 

 Eretri. 



The lacustrine deposits consist of white marls interstratified with 

 compact calcareous beds, resembling lithographic stone, which 

 towards the upper part of the series are thinly laminated, and easily 

 split into slabs of any required thickness ; the stone has in conse- 

 quence become an article of commerce for roofing houses, and is 

 principally used for this purpose by all the villages in the district. 

 In some of the spots which are quarried for these slabs, freshwater 

 shells and the leaves of land plants abound to such an extent, that 

 it is hardly possible to split any fragment without exposing an im- 

 pression of a leaf, of which there are several species. No doubt the 

 plants grew upon the adjacent mountains when forming islands in 

 the lake. 



Besides these strata, the formation is remarkable for a bed of 

 lignite. The coal has been tried in some of the steamers and burns 

 well, but is objectionable from emitting a disagreeable smell, and 

 producing a large quantity of dirt or ashes in proportion to the fuel 

 consumed. 



The lignite bed is overlaid by about 200 feet of the calcareous strata 

 and marls, and consists of four seams included in a depth of about 

 sixteen feet. The thickest seam is four feet, and the others from one 

 to two feet each. They are separated by a black clay and dark indu- 

 rated marls. The lignite is thinly laminated, and contains no vege- 

 table impressions ; it varies in character from a woody texture to a 

 tolerably brittle coal. The lignite was discovered about fifteen jears 

 ago, in consequence of a landslip at the head of a ravine leading up 

 from the valley of Koumi, through the upraised schistose rocks. 

 From there having been a considerable wasting away of the softer 

 deposits at the head of this ravine, the lignite crops out at the foot 

 of a ridge, formed of the overlying calcareous strata, and within a 

 few hundred yards of one of the protruding points of serpentine. 

 The spot is marked A in Section 3. 



The Greek government have until lately procured a considerable 

 quantity of coal from this spot, a tunnel with a tram-way having been 

 carried horizontally into the seam for several hundred feet ; but the 

 expense of carriage has discouraged the continued working of the 

 mine, since the material is found not to be economical for steamers. 

 It is principally used in factories. 



A short distance from the mouth of the mine I found, in some of 

 the overlying strata, both vegetable impressions and freshwater 

 shells, but in a crumbling decomposed state : they consisted of a 

 Planorbis, Paludina, Limneus, and Cyclas. Similar fossils are more 

 abundant at the head of the Kastrovalla valley, at the Piaka (flat 

 slab) quarries, about two miles N.W. of the mine. The highest part 

 of these lacustrine deposits is upwards of 1000 feet above the sea. 



Fossil fish are sometimes found at these quarries, but rarely. I 

 was however so fortunate as to find a fragment of one, and bought 



