ENVIRONS OF NICE. 445 



There are other beds containing organic remains which I 

 consider of subsequent formation to the gravel heaps. The 

 first of these is on the west side of the Nice plain, and 

 about a mile from the sea ; it is a bank entirely composed of 

 sand and sea shells. They are principally bivalves, but a 

 few minute univalves are found among them. Although the 

 species may be considered the same, the state in which they 

 occur is quite different from those of the blue clay, and if 

 we except some large oyster shells, and a few pectens, the rest 

 are in such a state of decomposition, that it is impossible to 

 disengage them from the sand. 



The second differs from this, but only in respect to the va- 

 riety of shells it contains ; for it is composed of the same kind 

 of sand. It is situated on the banks of the Paglion, just above 

 the village of Trinite. Here the sand extends over the sur- 

 face of a hill, which has been brought into cultivation, and 

 the variety of shells contained in it, is immense. When these 

 are turned up by the pioche of the husbandman, and allowed 

 gradually to lose their moisture, they become hard, and are of- 

 ten found in a good state ; in digging for them, however, they 

 are generally so soft, that it is very difficult to preserve them. 

 If they can be got out entire, they afterwards attain a slight 

 degree of hardness ; but even in their pulverulent state* they 

 exhibit their varieties distinctly, and all, I am told, are of kinds 

 now living in the Mediterranean. Indeed, I have seen most, if 

 not all of them, in a recent state. 



These two beds appear to form a third epoch in the opera- 

 tions of the sea upon the surface of the land ; but there is a 

 fourth, which has all the characters of being still more recent. 

 This presents itself on the Peninsula of St Hospice, and per- 

 haps may involve a question with respect to the point at which 

 shells are to be considered fossil ; many of those which I have 

 found in this situation, being in such a perfect state, that it is 



nearly 



