276 JOSEPH PRESTWICH, F.E.S., F.G.S., ON A POSSIBLE 



objections to this are the great volume of the detritus, the 

 size of tiie blocks (some being 12 feet in diameter), and 

 the distance to which it is projected compared to the very 

 limited snow-collecting surface, and the small angle of slope. 

 The Ossiferous Fissures of Gibraltar are on a very largo 

 scale, and contain remains of Fells. HycBna, Bear, Rhinoceros, 

 Wild Boar, Ibex, Ox, Horse, Deer, Hare. The bones are, as 

 usual, much broken and splintered, and Dr. Falconer tells 

 us that none belonf/ed to an entire skeleton. A human molar 

 tooth and some worked flint flakes were also found in this 

 breccia. 



It has been suggested that these remains are those of 

 animals that had lived and died on the Rock, and were after- 

 Avards washed into the fissures by heavy rains. But this is 

 ditflcult to conceive, and besides, there is the same incom- 

 patibility in the habits and resorts of the animals thus 

 associated as in the other fissures before mentioned. The 

 Hi/a^na', Fetidai, and Bears migiit have frequented the dens 

 and crags of the Rock, but the Deer, Bovida^, Horse, and 

 others must have lived in the surrounding plains, and it has 

 not been suggested that they were carried to the Rock by 

 carnivora. A great and common danger alone could have 

 driven together the animals of the plains and of the crags 

 and caves. As the Rock after its submergence was again 

 upheaved, the currents swept down on both sides of it the 

 debris of the limestone disinteg-rated by the previous long 

 glacial cold, together with the scattered remains of the 

 animals and meii drowned by the inundating waters. That 

 the propelling force of the efiluent Avaters was great, is 

 shown by the distanc^e to wiiich the breccia extends from 

 the base of the Rock. The scale is difterent, and the 

 materials are different, but in all essential respects the 

 phenomena are analogous to those presented by the " head ' 

 at Brighton and Sangatte. There is the same restric- 

 t'on to local debris Avith large blocks, the same absence 

 Ol" Avear, the same traces of rude bedding, and the same 

 ojcasional presence of mammalian remains. 



Sicily.* Traces of similar phenomena exist in Sardinia, 

 Corsica, Italy, and on the coast of Dalmatia. The remarkable 



* Dr. Christie, P/nL Mag. for Oct. 1831, p. 1. Dr. Falconer, Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xvi, p. 9l;>. 



