456 NATURAL SCIENCE. Dec. 



Dalam Gorge, near Marsa Scirocco Bay, where Spratt and Adams 

 accomplished so much. It is situated 500 yards from the shore, and 

 its mouth is now 40 ft. above the bed of the small stream which, in 

 rainy weather, flows through the gorge. There is evidence every- 

 where of former torrential rains, where all is now comparatively 

 parched ; and Mr. Cooke considers that no other phenomenon could 

 have filled the caves and fissures as he finds them. In most parts 

 the Har Dalam Cave was filled to a height of within 2 ft. of the roof, 

 and one of the principal sections of the contents showed the following 

 succession of layers : — (i.) Unstratified surface debris, 6 in. ; (ii.) Red 

 clayey loam, 3 ft., with Hippopotamus, Cervus, and pottery; (iii.) Unfos- 

 siliferous black earth, 4 in. ; (iv.) Dark red plastic clay, i ft. 6 in., 

 with Hippopotamus ; (v.) Reddish clay, i ft., with Hippopotamus and 

 Cervus ; (vi.) Unfossiliferous yellow plastic clay, 2 ft. In one place a 

 human bone was found at about the base of layer iii. ; and layer v. 

 also yielded the first evidence of extinct carnivorous animals dis- 

 covered in Malta — a portion of mandible with teeth of a bear, and 

 one tooth of a canine quadruped as large as a wolf. 



The discovery of these carnivora in the Maltese caverns is of 

 great interest, because gnawed bones have already been noticed ; but 

 it is probable that still others remain to be found, notably the lion 

 and hyaena. The jaw of the bear, moreover, cannot be specifically 

 determined — -cannot be definitely assigned either to any extinct 

 animal, to the brown bear, the grisly, or to those of Northern Africa ; 

 can only be distinguished with certainty from our cave bear. As for 

 the canine, a single tooth is insufficient to prove whether or not it 

 belongs to a domestic dog. 



Still more interesting is the discovery of a great number of bones 

 of a small deer, mostly identified with the diminutive race of the 

 common stag met with in Northern Africa and known as the Barbary 

 Deer. The Fallow Deer may also have been present, but there are 

 no characteristic fragments. One superficial layer in the Har Dalam 

 cave consisted almost entirely of these remains in stalagmite, belonging 

 to animals in all stages of growth, perhaps even from the unborn 

 fcetus onwards. The adults vary much in size, but the largest 

 complete antler measures only about 2 feet in length. 



It is worthy of notice, in reference to Dr. Pohlig's recent memoir 

 on the Cave of Carini, that the same form of dwarf deer is also now 

 recognised in Sicily. Dr. Pohlig, however, gives a new sub-specific 

 name to the animal, terming it Cervus {elaphus) sicilice ; and his nomen- 

 clature for the associated species is not altogether such as will 

 commend itself to many zoologists. 



The chief advance made by Dr. Pohlig, indeed, consists in his 

 adding to the known Pleistocene fauna of the Sicilian area this small 

 deer and the dwarf elephant commonly known as Elephas melitensis. 

 Of the latter, even finer specimens have been discovered at Carini 

 than those obtained from Malta ; and Dr. Pohlig is now able to 



