504 J. H. Coolie — Globigerina Limestones of Malta. 



Of the Echinodermata, Echinocyamus Studeri, Echinolampas Manzoni, 

 Bemiaster vadosus, Sar sella anteroalto, and Schizaster Parkinsoni, 

 are found here and in the underlying divisions B, C, and D. 



At this horizon lignite is of common occurrence. Mr. N. 

 Tagliaferro described a piece, in the pages of the Mediterranean 

 Naturalist for June, 1893, that measured 11 ins. X 4 ins. X 1 in., 

 and which a microscopical examination showed to be the outer 

 layer of a tree-trunk. 



Division B: the first nodule seam. — A seam of phosphatic nodules 

 forms the base of the limestones of division A. The cliff ex- 

 posures along the southern shores of Malta show this seam to 

 average about 9 inches in thickness, and the nodules are small and 

 sparsely distributed. But in the hill escarpments of Eratarfa, 

 Wardia, Boschetto, and Hempsia it averages 15 inches, ami the 

 nodules are large, numerous, and compactly cemented together 

 in a phosphatic paste. Most of the nodules and the fossils found 

 with them are of a jet-black colour, and they have a high, metallic 

 lustre. In composition they vary from the nodules contained in the 

 underlying seams, being composed for the most part of phosphate 

 of iron. Of the fossil organisms the corals are a noteworthy feature. 

 The following species occur in abundance: Trochocyathus latero- 

 cristatus, T. pyramidatus, Flabellum avicida, and jP. intermedium. 

 All of these species have a considerable vertical range, being also 

 found in the Tongrian of Dego, the Helvetian of Torino, of Belforte, 

 and of Val Salice, the Tortonian of Tortona and of Stazzano, and 

 in the Pliocene of Zinola. In the Maltese Islands they occur in the 

 subdivisions A to I. 



Division G. — This bed consists of a variously textured rock, 

 having a reddish-yellow colour. The upper portion is coarse and 

 susceptible to weather influences ; but it merges imperceptibly 

 into a fine-grained, compact limestone, massive and homogeneous, 

 and with a total absence of the tendency to cleave which charac- 

 terizes the coarser variety. Small concretionary masses of haematite 

 and chert frequently occur, and when the rock is cut through they 

 appear on the slabs as black or red blotches which are known locally 

 as suaba or finger-marks. Thin layers of phosphatic nodules are 

 locally developed at Fom-ir-Bieh, but they seldom extend far. 

 The fauna of the bed is similar to that of B and D ; but several 

 fossils of note occur in it that are deserving of mention. A portion 

 of a carapace of turtle, Tryonx Atelitensis, Lyd., was obtained by 

 Mr. G. Gollcher ; a fragment of the symphysial part of the slender 

 mandible of ? Ichthyosaurus gaudensis, Hulke, was exhumed at Marsa 

 Forno ; the greater portion of the jaws of Tomistoma champsoides 

 and the remains of numerous crocodilians and whales have been 

 obtained from this horizon bj' Adams and others. 



The Brachiopoda are here well represented by Terebratula 

 caput-serpentis, T. minor, and T. Cortce var. parumlobata, De Greg. 



Division D: the second nodule seam. — This bed consists of an 

 aggregation of irregularly-shaped nodules, intermixed with enormous 

 quantities of the phosphatized remains of molluscs, echinodenns, 



