Notices of Memoirs—Fossil remains from Samos. 69 
their origin to periodical floodings of the cavern, during which the 
remains that lay scattered over the cavern floor, near the mouth, 
were washed further within and were buried in the muddy sediments 
of the water. 
The state of mineralization in which the remains of the Hippo- 
potamus, the Stag, and the Bear are, indicates that these animals 
occupied the Maltese area contemporaneously. 
Further researches will, I have no doubt, lead to otner discoveries, 
and it will therefore suffice for the present to simply place on record 
these, the first tangible evidences of the former occurrence of 
carnivora in the Maltese area. 
INFO RDILO AHS) (ay AVEO wre Sc 
Dr. C. I. Forsyta-Masor—-On THe Fossin-REMAINS FROM SAMOS. 
C. I. Forsyra Masor, Le GIsemENT ossiFeERK DE MIrTyYLINI. 
Extrait DE Samos, ErupE G£kOLOGIQUE, PALEONTOLOGIQUE ET 
BOTANIQUE. Par C. De Srerant, C. I. Forsyra Masor, et W. 
BarBey. (Lausanne, Bridel, 1892.) 
EVERAL ancient authors, as Avlianus, Heraclides, Ponticus, and 
others, speak of the former existence of monsters on the Isle 
of Samos, and mention expressly that their bones—which are 
claimed by Plutarch to be the remains of the Amazons slain by 
Bacchus—are still to be seen in the island. 
This induced the author, when visiting Samos for other scientific 
purposes, to search for fossil bones ; and he was fortunate enough to 
find a rich deposit of them in the vicinity of the village of Mitylini, 
in the eastern part of the island, imbedded in a volcanic tufa, alter- 
nating with strata of sandy marls and gravels. These same deposits 
had been seen and described almost fifty years ago by Admiral (then 
Lieutenant) Spratt, who failed, however, to discover fossils in them. 
The following is a complete list of the Vertebrate fauna of Samos, 
compared with other deposits in which a certain number of species 
have been found agreeing with those of Samos. 
From the following comparison it may be seen, that of the 43 
Mammalian species from Samos, 25 at least are represented equally 
at Pikermi (Greece), 13 at Maragha (Persia), 7 at Baltavar 
(Hungary), 7 at Mont Leberon (France), so that the contem- 
poraneity of all these deposits, and many others less well known, is 
placed beyond doubt. | 
Whilst the majority of Paleeontologists assign all these deposits to 
the older Pliocene, the author adduces reasons for which, in ac- 
cordance with the views of Professors Boyd Dawkins, Depéret, 
Gaudry, and others, he holds them to be Upper Miocene. He 
points out that the other view is to be traced back to Dr. Theodor 
Fuchs, who regarded a very recent deposit of fossil shells near the 
sea-shore at Raphina, four miles distant from Pikermi, as contem- 
poraneous with the Pikermi beds. If this view were correct, thie 
Pikermi beds would have to be assigned to the uppermost Pliocene, 
or even to the Pleistocene, so that Dr. Theodor Fuchs must have 
_ been led into an error of observation. 
