278 Messrs. J. H. Cooke and A. S. Woodward. 



thinks, to the action of marine erosion during a period of depression 

 and of re-elevation ; but not altogether to this cause. 



The limited extent of the present land area, and of the annual rain- 

 fall it enjoys, would certainly nob afford fresh water for a stream 

 sufficient to cut out these gorges (often hundreds of feet in vertical 

 depth). The author therefore considers they must date back to a 

 period when these islands formed part of a much larger (indeed a 

 continental) area, and that the rainfall must have been much greater 

 than it is at the present time. 



That during periods of torrential rains entire herds of Herbivora 

 must have been drowned, and their carcasses swept into the gorge, 

 and thence into the Har Dalam and other caves, where their remains 

 were embedded. 



In evidence of the great antiquity of these deposits, he points to 

 the fact that the mouth of the cave is now 40 ft. above the bed of the 

 small stream which, in rainy weather, flows through the gorge, and 

 that no torrential waters now sweep through it ; and, further, that the 

 cutting down of 40 ft. of rock must have been an extremely slow and 

 gradual process, and have taken place since the last cave layer was 

 deposited. 



Of the pottery, two well marked kinds were observed : the one, a 

 rude, coarse, unornamented fabric ; the other, finer in texture, and 

 characterised by markings similar to those found on ware which occurs 

 in tombs at Malta, and known to be of Phoenician and Punic origin. 



The earlier kind is within 2 or 3 ft. of the surface ; the later, only 

 in the superficial layers. 



Report on the Organic Remains. By ARTHUR SMITH Wo ODWARD, 

 F.L.S., of the British Museum. 



I. CAVE EARTH. 

 Ursus arctos (?). 



The only remains of Carnivora discovered in the cave earth (Exca- 

 vation No. VI, layer ii) comprise the imperfect left mandibular 

 ramus and left lower canine of a small Bear, and another canine 

 tooth equalling in size that of a Wolf. The mandibular ramus of the 

 Bear belongs to a fully adult, perhaps aged animal, the permanent 

 dentition being well worn ; and the detached canine indicates a 

 mandible of the same size. There is a small socket behind the 

 canine for pm. 1 ; and pm. 4 is well developed, but without any inner 

 tubercle beyond a rudiment anteriorly. The length of the diastema 

 is 0*038, and the teeth preserved measure in length respectively as 

 follows* : 



* All measurements are given in decimal fractions of the metre. 



