2 MR. A. L. ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF 
and bones of the fossil elephants discovered by me during five years explorations in the 
caves, fissures, and alluvial deposits of these islands’, My collections comprehend 
remains of several hundreds of elephants of all ages, from the unborn calf to the aged. 
Although the large bones are for the most part imperfect, such is not the case with the 
small bones and teeth, many of which are entire and in good states of preservation. 
Although the following descriptions are strictly anatomical, it appears to me important 
that some notice should be furnished also in relation to the physical aspect and localities 
where the remains were discovered, seeing that frequent allusion will be made to parti- 
cular deposits where certain specimens were found. The accompanying map, therefore, 
shows the surface formations and names of all the ossiferous caves, fissures, and alluvial 
soils hitherto recorded. These may be arranged in the following chronological order. 
The Cave or Me.uma (see Map No. 1) was discovered accidentally in 1840. It 
existed in the Upper Limestone, and contained remains of Hippopotamus pentlandi and 
perhaps a much smaller species. ‘The teeth and bones were contained in a conglomerate 
formed of blue marl and much-rounded and water-worn fragments of the parent rock. 
The Ganp1A Fissure (No. 2) was first discovered (accidentally) in 1857, and was 
reopened by me in 1865. It was a gaping rent in the calcareous sandstone, and con- 
tained the red soil of the surface intermixed with fragments of the parent rock, among 
which were numerous entire and broken teeth and bones, chiefly of the largest elephant, 
with a distal extremity of the radius of Hippopotamus*®, a few bones and teeth of 
Myoxus melitensis, and large bones of birds, evidently Anseres and other aquatic forms. 
All were huddled together without any order whatever. 
The Matak Cave (No. 3) was discovered (also accidentally) in 1858. It seems to have 
been a cavern opening only horizontally. The deposits on its floor were of precisely the 
same character as those of Melliha, with the same description of animal remains, and 
the addition that a solitary molar of one or other of the elephants was discovered by me 
in the conglomerate, which was composed of blue marl and fragments of the Lower 
Limestone in which the cavern was formed. Many of the above-mentioned remains 
had been much injured from rolling; but many molars of Hippopotamus pentlandi and 
H. minutus were perfect. On the top of this deposit lay several inches of red soil and 
cayern-earth infiltrated by calcareous drippings ; and profusely intermixed were abundant 
remains of Myoxus melitensis, birds’ bones, and entire recent land-shells. Here there 
were none of the pronounced indications of turbulent aqueous action which are seen in 
the substratum ; and a line of demarcation divided the two formations. 
The Zespue Cave (No. 4) was discovered by chance in 1859. It was situated in the 
calcareous sandstone, and contained red and blue clays, with numerous remains of the 
various species of elephants and birds described by Falconer, Busk, and Parker in the 
" The geological details are described in my work, ‘ Natural History and Archeology of the Nile Valley and 
Maltese Islands,’ p. 161; Edmonston and Douglas, 1870. 
* Pl. XI, fig. 21, 
