114 Dr Daubeny on the Geology of Sicily . 
The whole of this calcareous formation rests upon the sand- 
stone just described, and may be referred to the chain of hills, 
which, under the name of the Madonia Range *, are seen in 
the back ground running nearly parallel to the north coast, be- 
tween Cefalu and Termini, and from thence extending to Pa- 
lermo, and perhaps to Trepani. 
It should seem, however, that this is the only spot within the 
limits of this formation in which organic remains have been dis- 
covered. I myself examined attentively the compact limestone 
of Termini and Palermo, without finding any, and all the loca- 
lities to which Professor Scena, in his Topography of Palermo^, 
refers, in proof of their occurrence, seem to belong, not to the 
compact limestone, but to the recent breccia, which I shall after- 
wards describe as overlaying it. This circumstance makes me 
adopt, with some degree of hesitation, the idea of the identity 
of the Cefalu with the Palermo limestone. 
Let us now consider the characters of this limestone, as seen 
at Palermo and Termini. 
It is generally of a bluish colour, and is then often found to 
emit, when struck, a foetid odour like sulphur: sometimes, 
however, it is white, and of a compactness not much exceeding 
that of the hardest kinds of chalk, or of the beds which are oc- 
casionally met with in the Jura limestone. 
It is probable that the latter constitutes the softest variety of 
the Palermo limestone, and that the hardest may be seen in the 
marble of Castronuovo, employed in the columns of the Palace 
at Caserta near Naples, and in the great staircase of the Convent 
of San Martino near Palermo. 
The formation in general is, however, best marked by the 
beds of chert with which it is accompanied ; these occur at 
Monti Giuliano near Trepani + ; at Termini, and in some of 
* The Madonia Mountains were the Nebrodes of the ancients; the highest of 
them, according to Ferrara, attain the elevation of 610 toises, or 3660 feet. 
*|* Vide “ Topografia di Palermo , abbozzata , da Dominico Scena Professore di 
Fisica nel ’Universita di Palermo, 1818.” 
X Formerly Mount Eryre, famous for the Temple of Venus. It is one of the 
loftiest mountains of Neptunian origin . Its height is stated by Ferrara at about 
590 toises, or 3540 feet above the sea. 
