a7id the Phenomeria accompanying their Elevation. 7 



pearance of being divided into strata, as if it had been depo- 

 sited under water, has a grey colour, and consists of a pro- 

 digious number of fragments of bones, with some rolled pieces 

 and blocks of limestone, cemented together by a little lime or 

 clay. Many of the bones have a calcined appearance, and stick 

 to the tongue ; some are light and fragile, others are completely 

 petrified with lime. In some places they are tolerably loose, 

 and can be easily detached ; in others the breccia is so hard that 

 it can be employed as a building stone. A collection of the 

 bones was sent to Paris to Baron Cuvier, and, according to the 

 list in Professor Scina's memoir, they include bones of elephant, 

 hippopotamus, and deer, with a few of a carnivorous animal of 

 the genus Canis *. 



The whole of the bone-breccia having been removed from the 

 interior of the cavern, the substratum has thus been exposed, 

 which consists of a thin bed of loose sand, shells, and corals, 

 extending into the cavern about 30 or 40 feet beyond the 

 entrance. (PI. I. 5.) The shells and corals are in great 

 abundance, forming the principal part of the bed, and are ge- 

 nerally broken or rounded. This is probably the highest, and 

 consequently the last formed bed of the tertiary deposits ; and 

 some of the inferior beds on which it rests may be seen at 

 the exposed part of the talus on the side of the high road. (PI. 

 1-6.) 



There is very little stalactite in this cavern. Its sides are 

 smooth and polished, as if by the waves ; and on the left side, 

 on entering, it is perforated by numerous small holes, the work 

 of lithodomi, and which I observed to extend under the thin 

 bed of shells already described. These holes are confined to 

 the left side, which has been probably owing to the slanting 

 form of the cave from left to right, which causes the right side 

 to hang over the other, and which would thus expose it to the 

 dash of the waves, a situation little favourable for the piercing 

 animals alluded to. Traces of lithodomi and oyster-shells are 

 also seen on the outside at the base of the cliff. 



• I am sorry to have none of these bones to present to the Society and to 

 tlie University of Edinburgh. Having been promised a collection of them 

 by a person at Palermo, who ultimately disappointed me, I unfortunately 

 neglected to collect any myself from the cave. 



