110 I) i* Daubenj cm the Geology of Sicily. 
of the turbinated kind. I have also specimens which seem to 
contain those madrepores, with finely striated branches, known 
under the name of Junci lapidei ; and Mr Coneybeare (to 
whom, as well as to our curator Mr Miller, I feel indebted for 
naming many of the shells which I had collected from this and 
other localities), has pointed out to me small cylindrical stems, 
which he conceives to be the trunks of the Isis Gorgonia. This 
discovery is interesting, as Scilla, in his work 44 De Corporibus 
marinis lapidescentibus,” states bis having met with this fossil 
among the hills in the neighbourhood of Messina, in a mineral- 
ized state, mixed with echini, shells, &c. He found the coral 
in beautiful branches, as well as fragments, the whole surface de- 
prived of its colour, although, in the thicker fragments, a pur- 
plish hue might still be found internally. 
It seems that he at first took this fossil for the leg-bones of 
some animal, but afterwards discovered it to consist of the frag- 
ments of some jointed coral, bearing a strong resemblance to the 
knotted coral described by Imperatus, as found in the sea near 
the Island of Majorca *. 
The limestone of Melazzo contains imbedded fragments of 
gneiss ; and, at the line of junction with that rock, there is an 
appearance of intermixture, caused probably by a disintegration 
of the older rock having taken place on its surface previously to 
the deposition of the more recent one. 
I have no data on which to rest any well grounded opinion 
with respect to the age of this limestone, having seen none pre- 
cisely resembling it in other parts of the island. It would ap- 
pear, however, from the account given by Scilla, that a due ex- 
amination of the mountains round Messina, would lead to the 
discovery of more of the same rock, and thus afford us the 
means of ascertaining its relations. For the present, I am ra- 
ther disposed to refer to it a recent origin. 
East of Melazzo, the gneiss is succeeded by a schistose rock, 
which here possesses the characters of mica-slate. This forma- 
tion, consisting sometimes of this variety of rock, and sometimes 
of clay- slate, constitutes a considerable chain of hills, extending 
in a south-west direction from thence to the coast, of which 
* See Parkinson’s Organic Remains, vol. ii, p. 72 . 
