76 
NEWER PLIOCENE PERIOD. 
[Ch. VII. 
and before him, to the north, the cone of Etna (see diagram 
No. 11). At the base of the cone he beholds a low line of 
hills e, e (No. 11), formed of clays and marls, associated with 
yellowish sand, similar to the formation provincially termed 
'Creta,,' in various parts of Sicily. 
This marine formation, which is composed partly of volcanic 
and partly of sedimentary rocks, is seen to underlie the modern 
lavas of Etna. To what extent it forms the base of the moun- 
tain cannot be observed, for want of sections of the lower part 
of the cone, but the marine sub-Etnean beds are not observed 
to rise to a greater elevation than eight hundred, or, at the 
utmost, one thousand feet above the level of the sea. We 
should remind the reader, that the annexed drawing is not a 
section, but an outline view of Etna, as seen from Primosole, 
so that the proportional height of the volcanic cone, which is, 
in reality, ten times greater than that of the hills of ' Creta,' at 
its base, is not represented, the summit of the cone being ten 
or twelve miles more distant from the plain of Catania^ than 
Licodia. 
Connexion of the sub-Etnean strata ivith those of the Vol di 
Noto. — These marine strata are found both on the southern and 
eastern foot of Etna, and it is impossible not to infer that they 
belong to the inferior argillaceous series of the Val di Noto,, 
which they resemble both in mineral and organic characters. 
In one locality they appear on the opposite sides of the Valley 
of the Simeto, covered on the north by the lavas of Etna, and 
on the south by the Val di Noto limestone. 
Val di Noto. No. 12. Etna. 
Section from Palerno by Lago di Naftia to Patagonia. 
a, Plain of the Simeto. b, Base of the cone of Etna, composed of modern lavas. 
o, Limestone of the Val di Noto. d } Clay, sand, and associated submarine vol- 
canic rocks. 
If in the country adjacent to the Lago di Naftia, through 
