550 



OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF SICILY. 



The vast number of Hippopotami implied that the physical 

 condition of the country must have been greatly different, at 

 no very distant geological period, from what obtains now. 

 He considered that all deposits above the bone-breccia had 

 been accumulated up to the roof by materials washed in from 

 above, through sinuous crevices or flues in the limestone, 

 and that the uppermost layer, consisting of the breccia of 

 shells, bone-splinters, siliceous objects, burnt clay, bits of 

 charcoal, and Hysena-coprolites, had been cemented to the 

 roof by stalagmitic infiltration. The entire condition of the 

 large fragile Helices proved that the effect had been produced 

 by the tranquil agency of water, as distinct from any tumul- 

 tuous action. There was nothing to indicate that the dif- 

 ferent objects in the roof-breccia were other than of contempo- 

 raneous origin; subsequently a great physical alteration in 

 the contour, altering the flow of superficial water and of the 

 subterranean springs, changed all the conditions previously 

 existing, and emptied out the whole of the loose incoherent 

 contents, leaving only the portions agglutinated to the roof. 

 The wreck of these ejecta was visible in the patches of 

 ' Ceneri impastate,' containing fossil bones, below the mouth 

 of the cavern. That a long period must have operated in 

 the extinction of the Hya3na, Cave Lion, and other fossil 

 species, is certain ; but no index remains for its measure- 

 ment. The author would call the careful attention of cautious 



List of Fossil Shells found in the ' Grotta di Maccagnone] as deter- 

 mined by Padre Lebassi, Curator of the Museum of the ' Collegio 

 Massimo dei GesuitV in Palermo, March 18, 1859. 



Where found 



Remarks 



Remarks by Padre Lebassi 



1. Helix Mazulii. 



n I Helix aperta (Born.) 

 ' t (H. naticoides, Drap.) 



3. Helix vermiculata 



4. Helix cellaria (Miiller) 



5. Troehus fragaroides 



(Lam.) 



6. Patella ferruginea(Linn.) 



Roof matrix, 

 back part 

 of cave. 



Roof-matrix. 

 Roof-matrix _ 



Roof-matrix. 



A solitary 



shell, partly 



broken. 



Very abund 



ant : shells in 



perfect inte 



grity. 



A solitary 

 specimen. 



Very rare in Sicily in 

 the fossil state. 



Very abundant in the 

 living state : like H. 

 Mazulii. 



(■Very common in the 

 j living state : ran 

 [ fossil. 



/Very common in liv 

 ing state : not ob- 

 served fossil by 

 Philippi. 



Very common : living 



Very rare in the sea 

 around Sicily: very 

 common fossil. 



