J. H. Cooke— The Pleistocene Beds of Malta. 201 



ANNELIDA. 

 Serpula antiquata, J. de C. Sowerby. 



PLANTS. 



Coniferous wood. 



In conclusion, the author desires to thank Mr. G. C. Crick, F.G.S., 

 for his assistance in determining the Cephalopods referred to in this 

 paper. Mention should also be made of the fact that the fossils 

 enumerated from these Cretaceous zones are the property of Miss 

 Lowndes, but she has generously consented to give a selection of 

 them to the Geological Department of the British Museum (Natural 

 History), Cromwell Road. 



III. — Notes on the "Pleistocene Beds" of the Maltese 



Islands. 



By John H. Cooke, F.G.S., F.L.S. 



IN August, 1891, I published in the Geological Magazine the 

 results of my work on the Pleistocene beds of Gozo. 1 Since 

 then I have made a careful and systematic survey of the islands, 

 and have discovered and traced out several important beds that had 

 escaped the notice of those who had preceded me in working out 

 the islands' geology. In the following " notes " I have briefly 

 summarized the results in the hope that they may be of use, not 

 only to other students of the geology of the district, but also to the 

 agriculturist, who, by drawing on the resources that they offer, may 

 bring into cultivation much of that portion of the western parts of 

 the islands which from its supposed dearth of soil has hitherto been 

 looked upon as uncultivable. I have elsewhere described this 

 district and its capabilities ; there is, therefore, no need for me to 

 enlarge upon that part of the subject here. 2 



St. Paul's Bay Deposits. — The valley at the head of St. Paul's 

 Bay known as Uied tal Puales, as well as the slopes that bound 

 the bay itself, are covered with superficial deposits of varying ages 

 and characters. They comprise calcareous loams, alluvial soils, 

 imperfectly formed limestones, and accumulations of limestone- 

 agglomerates and breccias. St. Paul's Bay owes its origin to 

 a depression between two sets of parallel faults, the faces and 

 faults of which are furrowed with small valleys and gullies. 

 The flood waters from these tributaries have largely assisted in 

 filling up the inequalities of the depressed area with the detrital 

 products of the surrounding plateaux ; and the alluvium which 

 has been thus spread over has, in many parts, a thickness of 

 from 15 to 20 feet. Besides these accumulations of residual 

 materials the slopes of the valley sides are, in places, lined with 

 alternating deposits of loam and rock- fragments capped with a 

 compact layer of limestone of a greyish colour. 



1 " Notes on the Pleistocene Beds of Gozo " : Geol. Mag., Aug. 1891. p. 348. 



2 J. H. Cooke, "On the Cultivation of Agava ngida in Malta" : Med. Nat., 

 Nos. 26 and 27, 1894. 



