Vol. 56.] SALT-LAKE OF LAKNACA. 747 



the hamlet or farm of the Pasha Chiftlik on the other, and they at 

 one time discharged into the salt-lake, or the estuary the site of 

 which the lake now occupies ; but their waters have been inter- 

 cepted by artificial channels, and are now conducted on the north 

 to the sea direct, and on the south to the backwaters already 

 described, and thence to the sea (see PI. XXXIX, & fig. 2, p. 748.) 



(2) Geology of the Neighbourhood. 



The geological strata in the neighbourhood of the salt-lake have 

 been described by Prof. Albert Gaudry in his memoir on the 

 4 Geologie de Pile de Chypre/ l and by Dr. Unger in his monograph 

 ' Die Insel Cypern ' Vienna, 1865, written in collaboration with 

 Dr. Kotschy. They consist chiefly of (i) conglomerates ; (ii) shelly 

 sands and gravels ; and (iii) marls or calcareous clays. 



(i) Conglomerates. 



The conglomerates contain waterworn fragments of older rocks, 

 flints from the Oligocene limestones, jasper from the metamorphic 

 rocks, and fragments of greenstone and ophitic rocks, besides nume- 

 rous fossils, the whole cemented together by calcareous matter 

 sometimes hard and sometimes friable. Dr. Unger describes the 

 formation thus (op. cit. p. 10) : — 



4 The basin at Larnaca occurs in the youngest, of the marine sandstones ; ' 

 and quoting from Prof. Zittel he adds : — 



' The formations of Larnaca belong to the youngest division of the Tertiary 

 formation ; a division which has been found in numerous places on the shores 

 of the Mediterranean, and which has, especially in the case of Rhodes and Sicily, 

 acquired some fame by the numbers of fossils found in it. The numerous well- 

 preserved fossils of Larnaca bear an extraordinary resemblance to the mollusca 

 still living in the Mediterranean. Out of 146 specimens, only four were found 



to be those of completely extinct species [The character of the fossils] 



shows the formation to have been deposited in shallow water.' (Op. cit. 

 pp. 46-47.) 



The individual components of this conglomerate vary in dimen- 

 sions from the size of a walnut to that of an apple. In some 

 parts it is very compact, but in others it passes gradually into a fine 

 sandstone, and in such places the fossils may be extracted with 

 ease, so much so in fact that they frequently fall out by the mere 

 disintegration of the mass consequent upon rain, which carries away 

 the softer matter and leaves large and small fossils lying together 

 on the surface. This lighter material is also rich in the remains of 

 minute organisms, such as polyzoa, corals, and foraminifera. The 

 beds scarcely deviate in the slightest from the horizontal position. 



1 Mem. Soc. Geol. France, ser. 2, vol. vii (1862) pp. 219 et segq. 



