FOSSIL VERTEBRATES. 425 



lieig'ht of the specimen is 63 mm., the aiitero-f)ostei'ioi- width 

 •30 mm., and the thickness 21 mm. Perhaps its chief interest 

 lies in its association with remains of one of the small elephants 

 •and those of a large chelonian, thiis showing definitely for 

 the first time the contemporaneity of the Uqitus -remiiins 

 with the rest of the extinct Pleistocene fauna of the island. 

 For Leith Adams wrote that he had no evidence of such a 

 ■contemporaneity ; and, further, an imperfect metacarpus, pre- 

 viously obtained from the Har Dalam Cavern, was found in a 

 •superficial layer, and included with remains of man, domestic 

 .animals, and rude potteiy*. This last example, now in the 

 British Museum Collection, consists of the proximal half only of 

 the metacarpus, the greatest diameter of the articular sui'face 

 being 38 mm. ; it is a somewhat stouter bone than one in the 

 collection of the Manchester Mviseum. Mr. J. Wilfrid Jackson 

 has made some interesting notes on this last specimen which he 

 very kindly placed at my disposal, and which I feel I cannot do 

 "better than quote in full : — . 



" The Manchester Museum possesses a short and extremely 

 ■slender adult metacarpal bone of an Equine which was found 

 many years ago in one of the Malta caves associated with 

 remains of Cervus harbarus, fox and tortoise. In length the 

 bone measures 160 mm,, whilst the width at the middle of 

 the shaft is only 20'7 mm. (index 7*72). The width of the 

 distal end =: 29 mm. 



" The slenderness of the bone is very remarkable. According 

 to Prof. J. C. Ewart (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin. xxx. pt. 4, 1910, 

 p. 291), the cannon bones in fossil and recent Asiatic wild asses 

 ai'e long and slender, the length of the metacai-pal being at least 

 eight times the width at the middle of the shaft. The index of 

 the Malta bone is 7' 72, and therefore suggestive of ass rather 

 ■than horse, as in the latter the index is never more than 7*5. 



" However, assuming it to belong to horse, it would indicate 

 an animal of about 10 hands in height (accoi-ding to Ewart, 

 ■op. cit. p. 297, footnote), i. e. slightly higher than a typical 

 Shetland pony. In a specimen of the latter with a height of 

 •36'5 ins. the metacarpals measured 143 x 25 mm. [fide Ewart). 



" I believe the British Museum possesses a metacarpal from 

 Auvergne (? Pleistocene) which measures 173x24 mm. (index 

 7*20), which would indicate a slender-limbed animal under 

 11 hands at the withers. 



" Prof. Ewart writes me that he has also a record of a 

 156x25 mm. metacarpal from Seine Inferieure, which means 

 a horse about 9*2 hands." 



AVES. 



Owing to its geogi'aphical position Malta receives many visitors 

 'on migration, which accounts for the large number of recent 



* Proc. Royal Soc. vol. liv. 1893, p. 281. 



