206 J. B. Coolie— The Pleistocene Beds of Malta. 



B. A talus of from six to ten feet in thickness, consisting of angular 



and subangular boulders of the Lower Coralline Limestone. 

 It inclines at a high angle, and extends down the slopes, 

 overlapping A, to the water's edge. This division is only 

 found between Ras-el-Hamra and Uied-el-Mirhla. Adams 1 

 found the greater portion of a skull of Elephas Falconeri. 

 I have found no organic remains here, but in the deposits at 

 the same horizon which lie to the left of the mouth of Uied- 

 el-Mirhla I obtained several limb-bones, including a portion 

 of a humerus of Elephas Mnaidra. 



C. Higher up the slopes there occurs a layer of angular rock-frag- 



ments embedded in an extremely compact calcareous cement. 

 It is persistent all along the fault terrace, and averages about 

 two feet in thickness. In places it overlaps division B, and 

 it is therefore more recent than either of the other layers. 

 The character of the rock-fragments, which are similar to 

 those contained in divisions A and B, as well as the great 

 compactness of the deposit, prove that it must be of con- 

 siderable antiquity. Land-shells, chiefly Helices, in a broken 

 condition were abundant ; but mammalian remains appeared 

 to be absent. 



Kammieh and Melleha. — The Pleistocene beds at Kammieh and 

 Melleha may be separated into two well-marked divisions, the lower 

 of which differs but little from the loam-breccias that line the 

 bottoms of the slopes of the valleys in other parts of the islands, 

 while the upper one, though possessing certain distinctive characters 

 of its own, is similar in many respects to the beds at Forn-ir-Rieh 

 and Hammar. The sections which are exposed between Redum ta 

 Kassisu and Redum tal Imgharka on the north-western side of 

 Melleha Bay, along the coast of Ramla ta Chumnia, and Ghain 

 Zeituna on the south-eastern shore, and along the shore-line of 

 II Ponta tal Circheuna and of L'iscol tal Marfa in the Kammieh 

 peninsula, show that all of the deposits in these regions are identical 

 in character. The deposit at L'iscol tal Marfa is typical. It ex- 

 hibited the following sequence : — 



a. A series of layers of red and yellow, compact gritty limestones, 



resting unconformably one on the other. The materials vary 

 in character, being sometimes coarse and sometimes fine. 

 They abound with land-shells, principally Helices, and also 

 with a stunted brackish-water form of Cerithium. As a rule 

 the layers exhibit few traces of structure, but where the 

 materials are the coarsest, evidences of irregular bedding and 

 of stratification are apparent. 



b. Beneath these layers and passing abruptly but conformably into 



them is a seam of subangular and of rounded pebbles, of 

 about two inches in thickness. None of the pebbles exceed 

 the size of a walnut, and the majority are no larger than 



1 A. L. Adams, "The Nile Valley and Malta," p. 17-i. Edinburgh. 





