520 British Association Reports. 
striking facts and considerations to show, that most of the inland 
pillars and projections of rock hitherto attributed to weathering are 
due to the former action of waves, tides, and currents; that many 
rocks are capable of withstanding atmospheric action for thousands, 
if not hundreds of thousands of years; and that the amount of 
atmospheric denudation is small, when compared with that resulting 
from the littoral action of ‘ the great excavator,’ the ocean. 
VIII. Dr. A. Lerrn Apams AnD Prorsessor Busk communicated their Frrst 
Report oN THE EXPLORATION OF THE Mantuse CAVERNS. 
HERE were two caverns in the island of Malta, one in 
the South-East, and the other in the centre of the island, in 
which remains had been found; in the latter the remains being 
those of the Elephant, and in the former chiefly Hippopotamus. 
Recently another cave on the south coast, and not 100 yards from 
the Pheenician ruins in that part of the island, had been discovered, 
and Capt. Spratt had found in it some remains, after which Dr. 
Adams proceeded with the further exploration of the cavern, re- 
sulting in the discovery of relics which proved that that part of the 
surface of the earth which now constituted the island of Malta was 
once the home of two species of Pigmy Elephant and one species of 
Elephant of the size now existing. The island would not now yield 
a month’s food to many individuals, of even one species of Elephant ; 
therefore, the island must at one time have joined to the opposite 
coast of Africa; and in this opinion the authors of the paper were 
supported by other considerations. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
—— 
ON MACRAUCHENIA PATACHONICA. 
To the Editor of the GroLocicaAL MAGAZINE. 
Sir.—The most important and unexpected statement in Prof. 
Burmeister’s account of the Macrauchenia patachonica relates to 
the dental formula which he ascribes to that genus and species ; 
ViZ..— 
.8—38 1-1 4-4 4-4 
6, 8 SD 
3—3 1-1 é 
the exceptional fact being the presence of 16 teeth in the molar 
series of the upper jaw, instead of 14 as in ali other Perissodactyles. 
in which the full type-number of the series is maintained. Of the 
16 molar teeth thus assigned to the upper jaw,* Burmeister refers 
* ‘La Macrauchenia tiene como el caballo, seis dientes incisiors en cada man- 
dibula, cuatro colmillos chicos, ocho muelas en la mandibula superior, y solo siete 
en la inferior, de cada lado, es decir, en todo cuarenta y seis dientes.’—P. 42. 
‘ Delante de la letra C de esta figura (pl. i. fig. 2) se ven dos aberturas negras, 
indicando los alviolos para dos dientes, que faltan; la primera pertenece al diente 
canino, la segunda a la primera muela.’—P. 87, 
