Dr. Falconer on the Ossiferous Caves near Palei-mo. 235 



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, wherever 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 " ceneri impastate," with a larger admixture of 

 calcareous paste. 



With regard to the fragments of the siliceous objects, the great 

 majority of them present definite forms, namely long, narrow, and 

 thin, — having invariably a smooth conchoidal surface below, and 

 above, a longitudinal ridge beveled off right and left, or a con- 

 cave facet replacing the ridge — in the latter case presenting three 

 facets on the upper side. The author is of opinion that they closely 

 resemble, in every detail of form, obsidian knives from Mexico, and 

 flint knives from Stonehenge, Arabia, and elsewhere, and that they 

 appear to have been formed by the dislamination, as films, of the 

 long angles of prismatic blocks of stone. These fragments occur 

 intimately intermixed with the bone-splinters, shells, &c. in the 

 roof- breccia, in very considerable abundance ; amorphous fragments 

 of flint are comparatively rare, and no pebbles or blocks occur 

 either within or without the cave. But similar reddish flint or chert 

 is found in the hippurite limestone near Termini. 



In regard to the theory of the various conditions observed in the 

 Maccagnone Cave, the author considers that it has undergone 

 several changes of level, and that the accumulation of bone-breccia 

 below and outside is referable to a period when the cave was scarcely 

 above the level of the sea. Dr. Falconer points out the significance of 

 the fact that although coprolites of Hycence were so abundant again^t 

 the roof and outside, none, or but very few, of the bones of Hyaenas 

 were observed in the interior. He remarked also on the absence 

 of the remains of small mammalia, such as Rodents. He inferred 

 that the cave, in its present form, and with its present floor, had 

 not been tenanted by these animals. 'I'he vast number of Hippo- 

 potami implied that the physical condition of the country must 

 have been very different at no very distant geological period from 

 what obtains now. He considered that all deposits above the bone- 

 breccia had been accumulated up to the roof by materials washed in 

 from above, through numerous crevices or flues in the limestone, and 

 that the ujjpermost layer, consisting of the breccia of shells, bone- 

 splinters, siliceous objects, burnt clay, bits of charcoal, and coprolites 

 of Hyaena, had been cemented to the roof by stalagmitic infiltration. 

 The entire condition of the large fragile Helices proved that the 

 eflect had been produced by the tranquil agency of water, as distinct 

 from any tumultuous action. There was nothing to indicate that 

 the different objects in tlie roof-breccia were other than of con- 

 temporaneous origin. Subsequently a great pliysical alteration in 

 the contcjur, altering the flow of superficial water, antl of the sub- 



