ated appearance which may be seen in specimens from different
localities. As may be imagined from their composition, these rocks are
as a rule extremely unalterable by ordinary atmospheric agencies, and
are susceptible of a high degree of polish, which they retain with the
utmost tenacity. They were favourite materials with the ancient Roman
decorators; but they do not occur in large masses in the city. A
beautiful pair of Roman Ionic columns under the pediment of the altar
of the third chapel in the Church of Ara Coeli are made of a valuable
breccia called Breccia dorata, distinguished by its small light-golden
fragments on a ground of various shades of purple. The high altar of
Santa Prisca on the Aventine is supported by one column of Breccia
corallina of remarkably fine quality, in which the fragments are white
on a ground of light coral-red. In the second chapel of St. Andrea
della Valle there are two Corinthian columns of Breccia gialla e nera,
which is an aggregate mass of yellow and black fragments: the yellow
in its brilliant golden hue surpassing that of all other marbles, and
forming a striking contrast to the long irregular black fragments
interspersed throughout it. In the first chapel of the same church
there are four fluted Corinthian columns of breccia gialla, containing
small and regular blotches, of which the prevailing tint is orange,
each fragment edged with a rim of deeper yellow that surrounds it like
a shadow. A most beautiful variety of Breccia gialla e nera forms the
basin of holy water at the entrance of the Church of St. Carlo di
Catinari, in which "the colours resemble a golden network spread upon
a ground of black"; and an exceedingly lovely urn is seen underneath
the altar in one of the chapels of the Portuguese Church, in which
white fragments are imbedded in a purple ground which shines through
their soft transparency.

Not the least attractive objects in the chamber of the Dying Gladiator
in the Museum of the Capitol area portion of a large column of very
beautiful and extremely valuable Breccia tracagnina, in which
golden-yellow, white, red, and blue fragments occur in very nearly
equal proportions, and two large pedestals of Breccia di
Sete-Bassi--so called from the discovery of the first specimens near
the ruins of the Villa of Septimus Bassus on the Appian
Way--containing very small purple fragments of an oblong shape, which
is the characteristic peculiarity of all the varieties of t