11 



consists almost wholly of the casts of organic re- 

 mains (see Professor Forbes' catalogue), and mixed 

 with the casts are shapeless nodules of the sand- 

 stone of the same colour and texture. This deposit 

 preserves its peculiar character wherever the free- 

 stone group of beds is found. It is best exhibited 

 in the island of Gozo, in the Bay of Marsa el 

 Forno on the N. W. coast, and at the base of the 

 cliffs under Fort Chambray where it forms rocky 

 ledges two or three hundred yards broad, extending 

 along the coast, and rising only a foot or two above 

 the sea level." 



"The lowest bed of the group is a yellowish 

 white calcareous freestone (H) from 40 to 50 feet 

 thick. This is the stone which is commonly used 

 for building in the two islands. From the facility 

 with which it may be cut with the hatchet, or formed 

 with the lathe, this stone both in the rough state 

 in the form of slabs, and also when turned into 

 pillars, balustrades, vases, and other architectural 

 ornaments is used extensively in all the public and 

 private edifices of Malta and Gozo, and is an arti- 

 cle of considerable export to all parts of the Me- 

 diterranean. A fossil turtle was found in this bed 

 near Casal Luca, south of the city of Valletta/' 



Remains of the great carnivorous whale Zeug- 

 lodon, of seals, and of the amphibious mammal 

 Halitheium have been discovered in this formation, 

 together with jaws of crocodilians, not to mention 



