340 Dorothea M. A. Bate — Ossiferous Deposits 



The three ossiferous deposits given last in the above list were 

 contained in coast caves in the Jurassic Limestone. Owing to this 

 protection these were more extensive and better preserved than those 

 described above. 



No. 4 is locally known as the Cueva de la Barxa. An entrance is 

 effected through a rent in the roof, and a drop of 7 or 8 feet gives 

 access to a chamber about 20 yards long by 5 wide ; both roof and 

 rock-strewn floor slope down to what was the original entrance and 

 where the sea now breaks through and ordinarily fills perhaps half the 

 floor space with quiet pools. At the inner and upper end a small 

 opening leads to the main portion of the cavern. This contains 

 stalactites and a stalagmitic flooring partially covered with fresh 

 water and with a few Recent bones already attached to its surface 

 by a coating of lime deposit. 



The mammalian remains were obtained from the chamber first 

 entered. Here the whole floor had formerly been covered by 

 an ossiferous deposit &\ feet thick. This had been subsequently 

 almost entirely demolished, leaving small isolated patches of bone 

 breccia in crevices in the walls. The full force of the waves can 

 have barely reached the extreme length of this chamber, for a small 

 part of the ossiferous flooring remained at its inner end immediately 

 below the opening leading to the larger cavern. A section of this 

 was exposed, showing it to be at this point about 3^ feet wide by 

 3 deep. It rested on stalagmite, and its upper surface was also 

 protected by an uneven crust with a minimum thickness of 4 inches, 

 which was greatly exceeded in places. The face of the section 

 was also partially covered by stalagmite an inch thick, which must 

 have formed subsequently to the general destruction of the flooring. 

 The most important remains obtained here were those of Myotragus 

 halearicus, including the type-specimens.' Numerous land shells 

 also occurred, some with traces of colour still persisting. These 

 were kindly identified by the late Eev. R. Ashington BuUen* as 

 Vitrea lentiformis, Otala balearica, Selicella myelli, and Tudorella 

 ferruginea, species still extant in the islands. 



The promontory forming the northern shore of the Bay of Alcudia 

 is composed of Jurassic Limestone. In the cliffs near Cabo de 

 Menorca, and about 25 feet above the sea, were two cleft-like grottoes 

 which might formerly have been neighbouring chambers of one large 

 cavern. The eastern half, No. 6 of the list, was only 3 feet high 

 by 10 or 12 wide at its entrance ; the floor was of rough, uneven 

 rock,, and there were a few traces of ossiferous remains. The most 

 important of these was to one side, where a section was exposed 

 of a deposit of reddish earth two yards in extent and surmounted 

 by two thin layers of stalagmite. The specimens contained in this 

 earth were thickly coated by a limey concretion, which also massed 



^ " A new Artiodactyle from Majorca, Myotragus Balcaricus, gen. et sp. 

 nov.," byD. M. A. Bate: Geol. Mag., 1909, pp. 385-8. See also Eeports 

 and Proceedmgs, Eoyal Society, June 18, 1914, "Description of the Skull 

 and Skeleton of a Eupicaprine Antelope, Mi/otragus halearicus (Bate)," by 

 Dr. C. W. Andrews, F.E.S. : Geol. Mag., reprinted infra, p. 378. 



2 Proc. Malac. Soc, vol. ix, pt. ii, June, 1910, pp. 118-22. 



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