159 
of the Appennines. 
transition formations of the Appennines, shews a connection with 
them and those to the south of Mont Blanc. Probably the 
transition rocks of the Appennines may be considered as a conti^ 
nuation of the newer members of the transition series of that part 
of the Alps. 
The varied nature of the upper Appennines forms a striking 
contrast with the wonderful uniformity of composition of the 
other parts. From Tuscany to southern Calabria, where older 
rocks again appear, the whole range nearly is composed of 
the same compact limestone which has been hitherto named Ap- 
pennine Limestone. This limestone, which very much resembles 
the white limestone of the Jura, is nearly of the same pale yel- 
low greyish, and seldom reddish white colours, of the same splin- 
tery fracture, in the large, sometimes conchoidal, and seldom 
granular foliated. But it wants the frequent beds of Roe - 
stone ^ and the numerous petrifactions of the Jura limestone, of 
which we seldom meet with traces in the Appennine limestone. 
Among the few varieties which it exhibits, belong the veins of 
calc-spar, which often traverse the compact limestone : beds of 
marl , and here and there nests and beds of flint and hornstone 
occur. 
Although the Appennine limestone much resembles the Jura 
limestone, and the analogous limestone on the south side of the 
Alps, as also that in I stria and Dalmatia ; yet it is difficult to de- 
termine whether the predominating limestone of the Appennines 
really belongs to the newer floetz-formations, to which the white 
J ura limestone evidently belongs, because there are neither su- 
perincumbent formations, nor characteristic petrifactions, to afford 
data for the solution of this problem. The determination be- 
comes particularly difficult, when we know that there is an un- 
interrupted transition from the limestone of the transition forma- 
tion to the Appennine limestone ; that even a pale limestone, re- 
sembling that of the Appennine series, alternates with other tran- 
sition rocks, and appears even under the gabbro ; and that, on the 
other hand, in some places, where the transition rocks are wanting, 
the Appennine limestone has a crystalline character. Such ob- 
servations might lead us to the conclusion, that all the limestones 
of the Appennines belong to the transition class. But if we com- 
pare the situation of the Appennine limestone, with that of the 
white limestone on the southern and northern sides of the Alps, 
