ENVIRONS OF NICE. 435 



washed from the surface, and leaves the fragments like a heap 

 of gravel. This broken and fragmented state of the limestone, 

 so far as I have been able to observe, is more prevalent on the 

 outskirts and surfaces of the hills, than in places which have 

 been worn down by the action of rivers ; and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Nice it is entirely peculiar to the first limestone. 



All the cements are more or less argillaceous, and if I may 

 except an occasional appearance of pyrites, and now and then 

 the occurrence of shells, I did not observe any other extra- 

 neous admixture. The appearance of shells, however, in the 

 paste which agglutinates the fragments of the first limestone, is 

 a very curious fact. They must have existed, possibly alive, 

 but certainly, or at least in all probability, in a recent state, 

 when this agglutination took place, and have been drawn in 

 along with the cement. It is a fact highly deserving attention, 

 particularly when the shells are found at a considerable eleva- 

 tion. I remember being much surprised at finding some mi- 

 nute shells included in the brescia near my house ; but up- 

 on these, as the paste was so unusually superabundant, and 

 as the spot was not exposed in a very satisfactory manner, I did 

 not conceive I had any sufficient ground to speculate. 



I have lately had an opportunity of visiting my friend Mr 

 Rawlinson Barclay in London. It was in company with this 

 gentleman I made most of my excursions in the vicinity of 

 Nice. From among the specimens he had collected after my 

 departure, he gave me one he had detached from near the sum- 

 mit of Mount Cao. This specimen is not only remarkable, from 

 the situation it was found in, but from the circumstance of shells 

 it contains being derived from very different origins. Accord- 

 ing to Captain Brown, one has every appearance of the Turbo 

 Fontinalis ; the second* is only the portion of a reversed shell, 

 which appears to be part of the Bulla Hypnorum y retaining its 

 colour and lustre, in a most extraordinary degree. Both these 



3 12 are 



