GEOLOGY. 347 



deposits. The wall of the cave, to the height of eight feet from the floor, 

 had been thickly bored by Pholades; for the space of ten feet higher the 

 side was smooth ; and still further up it was cancellar or eroded. Above 

 the breccia were blocks of limestone, covered by earthy soil, in which bones 

 of hippopotami, with a few of those of Bos and Cervus, light and fragile, 

 not fossilized as in the breccia, occurred plentifully. In a late visit to the 

 San Giro Cave, Dr. Falconer collected (besides the Hippopotamus) remains 

 of Elephas antiquus, Bos, Cervus, Sus, Ursus, Canis, and a large Felis, some 

 of which indicated a pliocene age. Another cave, the Grotto di Maccag- 

 none, about twenty-four miles to the west of Palermo, was lately the espe- 

 cial subject of the author's research. In its form it differs from that of 

 San Giro, being much wider. Its sides show no Pholad markings nor pol- 

 ished surfaces, as far as they are yet bared. It has a reddish or ochreous 

 stalagmitic cmst covering the interior. It agrees with the San Giro Cave in 

 its situation at nearly the same elevation above the sea and above the terti- 

 ary plain ; and in its enormous mass of bone breccia and great accumulation 

 of limestone boulders covered by the humatile soil with loose bones. The 

 floor had already been dug over for bones. Beneath this was the usual ochre- 

 ous loamy earth (called " cave-earth"), with huge blocks of blue limestone, 

 which impeded the operations of search ; then a reddish-gray, mottled, spongy 

 loam, cemented with stalagmite, occurring in thick patches, and called 

 " cinere impastate" by the peasants. This covers bone breccia resembling 

 that of San Giro, and, like it, full of bones of hippopotami. The remains of 

 a large Felis, two extinct species of deer, and of Elephas antiquus, were met 

 with also. The last is characteristic of the other pliocene caves of Europe. 

 Coprolites of a -large hyena occur in ochreous loam, and especially in a 

 recess on the face of the cliff near the cave's mouth. A patch of the "cinere 

 impastate" was found under the superficial earthy floor of the cave, at one 

 spot near the inner wall. The author ne^t described some remarkable con- 

 ditions in the roof of the cave. About half-way in from the mouth, and at 

 ten feet above the floor, a large mass of breccia was observed, denuded 

 partly of the stalagmite covering, and composed of a reddish-gray argilla- 

 ceous matrix, cemented by a calcareous paste, containing fragments of lime- 

 stone, entire land shells of large size finely preserved, splinters of bone, teeth 

 of ruminants, and of the genus Equus, together with comminuted fragments 

 of shells, bits of carbon, specks of argillaceous matter resembling burnt clay, 

 together with fragments of shaped siliceous objects of various tints, varying 

 from the milky or smoky color of calcedony to that of jaspery hornstone. 

 The brecciated matrix was firmly cemented to the roof, and, for the most 

 part, covered over with a coat of stalagmite. In the S. S. E. expansion of 

 the cavern, near the smaller aperture, a considerable quantity of coprolites 

 of hyaena was found similarly situated in an ochreous calcareous matrix, 

 adhering to the roof, mingled with some bits of carbon, but without shells 

 or bone splinters. On the back part of the cavern, where the roof shelves 

 towards the floor, thick masses of reddish calcareous matrix were found 

 attached to the roof, and completely covered over by a crust of ochreous 

 stalagmite. It contained numerous fragments of the siliceous objects, mixed 

 with bone splinters and bits of carbon. In fact, all round the cavern, wher- 

 ever the stalagmitic crust on the roof was broken through, more or less of 

 the same appearances were presented. In some parts the matrix closely 

 resembled the characters of the "cinere impastata," with a larger admixture, 

 of calcareous paste. With regard to the fragments of the siliceous objects, 



