]\6 ELWAED HUIL^ M.A., LL.D., Y.U.S., F.G.S., ON THE 



latter, II. antiquus and //. Pentlandi, togetliei* with remains of 

 Ao.s, cervus. nrsus, canis and a large species of Felis [F. spehsa ?). 

 Similar remains Avere also oljtained from another cave near 

 San Giro.* In his excavations Falconer was assisted by 

 Baron Anca di Mangalaviti, who subsequently recovered 

 Irom another cave overlooking the Bay of Palermo a large 

 number of bones of carnivores.f These caves are hollowed 

 ont of Cretaceous limestone at levels of 200 to 250 feet 

 above tlie present surface of the Mediterranean, and a little 

 above the upper limit of the Pliocene strata which descend 

 from the clifts to the water edge. Miocene strata do not 

 appear to be present on this northern coast of Sicily, but the 

 ossiferous caves of Malta, being hollowed out in Miocene 

 strata, show that the caves in that island are of post-]\Iiocene, 

 or early Pliocene age, and we may faii-ly infer this to be the 

 date of the caves on the Sicilian coast, containing similar 

 I'emains. 



The conclusion arrived at both by Leitli Adams and 

 Spratt with regard to the conditions under Avliich these 

 large animals lived and multiplied is identical, and is one 

 which can scarcely be gainsaid. They consider that there 

 Avas a general upheaval of this part of the J\iecliterranean 

 l)asin at, or towards, the close of the Miocene period, by 

 which Europe was joined to Africa, those portions of the bed 

 of the sea surrounding Sicily and J\lalta having been at this 

 epoch in the condition of dry land : the extent of the 

 upheaval between Sicily and Tunis would be 250 fathoms 

 (1500 feet) as compared with the level of the present 

 «ea-bed.J 



Three Mediterranean Basins. — We may assume Avith these 

 authors, supported by Dr. A. Wallace and Sir A. C. Ramsay, 

 that the great uprise at the close of the Miocene period 

 resulted in the conversion of the ^lediterranean area into 

 three distinct basins, connected with each other by channels 

 through which the Avaters passed from one to the other and 

 ultimately into the Atlantic. One of these channels through 

 the ''Medina Bank" has been identified by Admiral Spratt, 

 and is clearly indicated in his map as connecting the central 



* Spratt, Quart. Jouni. Oeol. Soc, vol. xxiii, pp. 288, 291. 



+ " Une piodigieiise quantite d'os des Carnivores," accompanied by stone 

 weapons, quoted by Dr. Falconer, Quart. Jaurti. Gaol. Soc, vol. xvi, p. 106. 

 Ooprolites of hyjena Avere exceedingly abundant in some of these caves. 



1 Ramsay, A'urope. Compendium of (j'eo'jrapliy and Travel, Stanfoi'd, 

 ]). 8, 1885, 



