MISS DOROTHEA BATE ON FOSSIL VERTEBRATES. 421 



14. On a small Collection of Vertebrate Remains from the 

 Har Dalam Cavern, Malta ; with Note on a new 

 species o£ the genus Cygnus. By Dorothea M. A. 

 Bate, Hon.M.B.O.U.* 



[Received April 14, 1916 : Read May 9, 1916.] 

 (Text-figures 1 & 2.) 



Index. 

 Systematic : Page 



Cygnus equitum., sp. u 427 



The researches of Spratt and Leith Adams, and later those of 

 Dr. Cooke and Mr. Tagliaferro, on the extinct fauna of the 

 Pleistocene cave-deposits and fissures of Malta have already- 

 yielded a rich harvest. The excavations of the two former 

 extended over a long period. Dr. Leith Adams, for instance* 

 spent six years in the island, a great part of this time being 

 devoted to investigating its cave and fissure deposits f. That 

 there is still scope for yet further research is shown by a col- 

 lection lately sent for examination to the British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist.) by the Curator of the Malta Musevim. This task 

 was very kindly entrusted to the present writer by Dr. A. 

 Smith Woodward, F.R.S. 



The literature dealing with the subject is very scattered, and 

 the records extend over a great number of years. Therefore, 

 before making a few observations suggested by a study of this 

 collection, it has been thought useful to workers on the palaeon- 

 tology of the Mediterranean Region to give as complete a list as 

 possible of the vertebrates of which remains have been obtained 

 from the Pleistocene of Malta. Leith Adams published a similar 

 list in 1877$, but this contains a record of only twenty-one 

 species, although Elephas falconeri and Myoxus cartel are in- 

 cluded. It is gratifying to find that this number has since been 

 nearly doubled, although no extensive systematic excavations 

 have been carried on. 



List of Species. 

 Mammalia. 



L Ursus ao'ctos (?) Linn. 



2. Vulpes sp. 



3. Ganis sp. (size of C. hcpus). 



4. 'Leithia melitensis Leith Adams sp. 



* Communicated by Dr. A. Smith Woodwaed, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. 



t Nat. Hist. & Archseol. of Nile Valley and Maltese Islands, Edinburgh, 1870. 



X Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxiii. 1877, pp. 177-190. — "On gigantic land- 

 tortoises .... from the Ossiferous Caverns of Malta .... together with a list of their 

 fossil fauna." 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1916, No. XXYIII. 28 



