144 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



MALTESE CAVES AND THEIR FAUNA. 



By John H. Cooke, F.L.S., F.G.S., Etc. 



(Concluded from page 107.) 



n^HE details contained in the two sections of 

 •'- this article that have already appeared briefly 

 summarize the results that have been obtained 

 from half-a-century's research in the caverns 

 of the Maltese Islands. These results suggested 

 that further evidences bearing on the quarternary 

 history of the Central Mediterranean might be ob- 

 tained from the island's superficial deposits ; and 

 between the years 1891 and 1894 a careful survey 

 was therefore undertaken. A series of extensive 

 beds were found clothing the sides of the gorges 

 and valleys, the coastlines and fault-terraces, and 

 filling up the caves and rock-fissures of the islands. 

 They have accordingly been grouped into three 

 classes (i) : (i) The valley loams and breccias ; 

 (2) the agglomerates of the coastlines and fault- 

 terraces ; (3) the ossiferous deposits of the caves 

 and fissures. All of these have been found to 

 contain fossils. 



In the valley beds of later Pleistocene age there 

 occurs an abundance of fragments of the limb- 

 bones of ruminants, and the horn-cores of a species 

 of Cervus, together with great numbers of land- 

 shells in a sub-fossil condition, e.g.. Helix aspersa, 

 H. melitensis, H. vermicularis , Claiisilia bidens, Rumina 

 decollata, Cyclostoma melitensis and Claiisilia sulcatum. 

 The shoreline and fault-terrace agglomerates are 

 still more prolific, and, though much older, the 

 remains are as a rule in a better state of preserva- 

 tion. Landshells are abundant, as well as the 

 teeth and limb-bones of the pigmy elephant, 

 Elephas falconer i, E. mnaidra, Hippopotamus pentlandi, 

 and the horn cores and bones oi Cervus (sp. ?). A 

 very characteristic series of these beds are to be 

 seen in the neighbourhood of Emtahlep and of 

 Fom-ir-Rieh, two of the most charming and 

 picturesque localities in Malta. 



The hillsides of the Binjemmas are there 

 pleasantly varied with groves of trees, in which 

 the fruit and foliage of the medlar, the quince, 

 the lemon, the orange, the pomegranate and the 

 carouba (locust tree) contrast prettily with one 

 another and with the enormous rock masses that 

 lie around garbed in their motley suits of verdant 

 moss and grey lichen patches. Apart from its 

 geological interest the boldness and ruggedness of 

 the scenery of this district well repays a visit at 

 any season of the year. 



The plateau region of Malta terminates in pre- 



(1) For further details see the following papers by J. H. 

 Cooke on the " Pleistocene Beds of the Maltese Islands." 

 (i) Geol. Mag. vol. viii. No. 326, p. 348; (2) Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Sec. vol. 51, 1895 ; (3) Geol. Mag. vol. iii. No. 383, 

 p. 201. 



cipitous declivities which have for their cappings 

 lines of tall beetling crags of the Upper Coralline 

 Limestone, the summits of which tower over the 

 waters of the bay to a height of from 600 to 700 

 feet. The whole neighbourhood is full of geolo- 

 gical interest, charming scenery and picturesque 

 effect. 



The rugged faces of the limestone bluffs that 

 encircle the summits of the plateaux and cap the 

 hills around the bay are perforated and seared 

 with caverns and fissures, many of which serve as 

 the outlets for the perennial springs that have 

 their origin in the highlands around. In the 

 summer time these springs meander unobserved 

 through the gullies and among the foliage that 

 flank the ravines ; but in the rainy season they 

 assume larger proportions and leap from terrace 

 to terrace in sparkling seething masses in their 

 downward rush to the sea. 



The wild scenery which characterizes the 

 extremity of the Great Fault near Ras el Raheb 

 is, in the winter time, greatly enhanced by one of 

 these miniature cataracts. From the mouth of a 

 cavern fissure which has been channelled out 

 of the Lower Coralline Limestone cliffs a small 

 torrent bursts forth, and, as if impatient for the 

 daylight of which it had been so long deprived, it 

 takes a flying leap of 300 feet over the sea-wall, 

 and breaks up in its headlong descent into a 

 silvery sheet of impalpable spray upon which the 

 glowing sunlight forms halos and coronas of the 

 most exquisite colours : " A cloud of mist, that, 

 smitten by the sun. Varies its rainbow hues." 

 These brilliantly-coloured airy nothings suspended 

 in mid-air and coquetting with every zephyr that 

 sweeps along the cliffs impart a great charm, and 

 invest the locality with more than a passing 

 interest. 



For the geologist Fom-ir-Rieh is specially 

 inviting. The geology of Malta and Gozo is here 

 epitomized, and every phase of the eventful 

 history through which the islands have passed, 

 from the time when their foundations were laid 

 down in the depths of an Oligocene ocean 

 to that when the rock masses were elevated to 

 their present position may be seen written in un- 

 mistakable characters in the cliffs and scaurs, 

 and in the heterogeneous assemblage of remains 

 which lie entombed in them. (') The chocolate- 

 coloured nodule seams which traverse the faces 

 of the limestone cliffs abound in relics of the 



(^) Cooke, J. H.; "The Globigerina Limestones of the 

 Maltese Islands," Quart. Journ. Geog. Soc, Vol. 51, 1896. 



