458 - REPORT — 1866. 



Second Report on Maltese Fossiliferous Caves i^c. 

 By A. Leith Adams, M.A., M.B., F.G.S. 



The Report I had the honour to lay before the Members of this Section at 

 the last Meeting of the Association contained a summary of my researches 

 and discoveries in connexion with the fossiUferous caves, fissures, and allu- 

 vial deposits of the Maltese Islands, but had more especially reference to 

 the contents of the Mnaidra Cave, which was then only partially exjilored. 

 Since that period I have been enabled to clear out the above remarkably pro- 

 ductive locality, and continue previous researches in other situations, and 

 bring together a large assemblage of fossil remains, which have been duly 

 forwarded to the Committee appointed to report on the excavations, together 

 with a detailed account of them, as far as I have been able to determine. 



Early in December 1865 the explorations in Mnaidi-a Cave were recom- 

 menced, at the point where they terminated (as stated in my last Report) ; and 

 they were continued with unabated vigour until the entire debris and fossili- 

 ferous remains were removed and attentively examined. Then the exact nature 

 of the opening and mode of deposition of its contents became apparent. 



(1) Mnaidra Gap. — Mnaidi'a, like similar gaps and fissures throughout the 

 islands, had at first sight the appearance of a cave ; but when attentively 

 examined afterwards, was found to present several roof-openings by which 

 its contents had been conveyed into the interior. It was therefore a simple 

 gap or hollow depression, covered in here and there by fragments of the 

 parent rock and stalactite. Its greatest length was 100 feet, the breadth 

 vaiying from 15 to 40 feet ; its eastern side and rounded extremity were 

 smooth and upright, inclining slightly inwards, whilst the western or oppo- 

 site side sloped at an angle of about 50°, thus contracting the breadth of the 

 canity to about 15 feet at the lower limits of the fossiliferous deposits, which 

 lay for the most part along the eastern wall. The lowennost deposits de- 

 scribed in my last Report continued much the same to the limits of the gap, 

 and showed no traces of organic remains. The brick-red clay on which the 

 fossiliferous deposit rested, was found to thin out towards the extremity, and 

 slope gradually downwards at a low angle to about the middle of the gap, 

 where it deepened and spread out towards the entrance on the edge of the 

 cliff. Precisely the same colour pervaded the overlying debris in which the 

 animal remains were distribiited, the largest accumulation of bones being 

 found at the bottom of the incline — that is, about the middle of the gap, where 

 the second series of explorations were begun in December 1865. Nor was 

 there any material change in the nature of the fossiliferous deposits : the 

 same thin stratum of sandstone pebbles, with teeth and fragments of bones 

 of the quadrupeds and birds, continued on to the fiu'thest extremity of the 

 gap, and overlay the brick-red clay, succeeded by the red and blue clay, 

 intermixed with large blocks of sandstone — the fossil remains being found in 

 the greatest abundance, and in the best state of preservation, wherever the 

 stones and clay predominated. The greatest thickness of the two latter 

 equalled 10 feet, but the average was not above 6 feet. The superficial white 

 calcareous di'ift on the top attained a depth of 9 feet in certain situations, 

 with angular fragments of sandstone and the parent rock intermixed. This 

 deposit showed aU the appearances of its having been derived from the de- 

 gradation of the two last-named formations, and was probably conveyed into 

 the gap by the same agency that brought the stones and clay, as teeth, tusks, 

 and bones of elephant, and remains of the lai'ge dormouse, also land shells, 

 were found here and there throughout, even to within a foot of the surface. 

 Thus the maximum thickness of the fossiliferous deposit equalled 18 feet. It 



