216 John H. Cooke — A Fossil Seal from Malta. 



While hunting for further evidences of these animals in the same 

 locality as that whence this fossil was obtained, I was fortunate 

 enough to find an isolated molar in the bed which is situated 

 between the first and the second nodule seams, and from informa- 

 tion which I obtained as to the exact locality in which the Malta 

 University specimen was obtained, as well as from a comparison of 

 its matrix with the rocks at El Kbajer, there can be no doubt but 

 that they were both obtained from the same horizon. The molar 

 tooth found by myself shows the lower portions of its bifurcated 

 root. It measures \ an inch in length, and f of an inch in 

 breadth. The enamel is rough and uneven, and it is scored with 

 white striations of unequal lengths, which run in parallel lines 

 longitudinally down both sides of the tooth. Along the posterior 

 margin there are two very pronounced serrations, while on the 

 anterior margin, and in immediate juxtaposition with the crown, 

 there is a small one. 



The layer of rock in which this and the University specimen were 

 discovered forms the base of the Laughiau series in the Maltese 

 Islands. According to Fuchs,' this and the overlying layer, which 

 is an argillaceous variety of the Marl beds, find their analogue in the 

 Horner Schichten of the Vienna basin. It is a reddish-yellow rock 

 of variable character. It averages about twenty feet in thickness, 

 and is remarkably persistent throughout both Malta and Gozo. In 

 organic remains it is one of the most prolific of the divisions of the 

 Globigerina limestones. 



The ribs and jaws of HaUtherium," and the teeth of Diodon, 

 Myliohates, and Fhoca are not rare, while most of the mollusca 

 found in the Marls and in the overlying argillaceous or transition 

 bed occur here in profuse abundance. 



Peden Koheni^ makes its first appearance in this bed. The 

 stratum is bounded above and below by a layer of phosphatized 

 remains of sea life. The upper seam varies in thickness from nine 

 to fifteen inches ; the lower seam ranges from an inch to two feet 

 thick. Both seams consist of an aggregation of irregularly shaped 

 nodules, intermixed with which are considerable quantities of the 

 phosphatized remains of molluscs, corallines, echinoderras, crusta- 

 ceans, fish, and mammals, the whole being firmly bound by an 

 interstitial cement composed of foraminiferal and other calcareous 

 matter. The lower seam is more compact than the upper one, and 

 the line of demarcation between it and the overlying bed is therefore 

 more pronounced. For a distance of several feet below the upper 

 phosphatic layer the phosphatized remains of ptei'opods and other 

 minute organisms are diffused at irregular intervals throughout 

 the rock. 



It was at about this horizon that the Malta University specimen 



1 Fuchs, Th., "Das Alter der Tertiai'schichten von Malta," Sitz. d. k.-k. Akad. 

 der Wiss. Wien, Ed. Ixx, p. 92. 



- Adams, Prof. A. L., " On the Discovery of the remains of JIalitherium in the 

 Miocene Deposits of Malta," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxii, p. 595, 1866. 



^ Vide Fuchs, Th., " Ueber den sogenanten ' Badner Tegel' auf Malta," for 

 description and figure. 



