102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 4, 



in that quarter by J. Morrison, Esq., a resident merchant of Palermo, 

 who had many years ago procured fossil bones from the neighbour- 

 hood of Carini, which are now displayed in the Museum of the Col- 

 lege of Surgeons. The author was under great obligations to the 

 kind services, scientific aid, and hospitable cares of Baron Francesco 

 Anca (di Mangalaviti) and Professor Angelo Porcari, of the Univer- 

 sity of Palermo, who accompanied him in all his visits to Carini, 

 and cooperated with him in the excavations carried on in and near 

 the Maccagnone Cave. Their assistance applied to every walk of 

 the exploration. The cave is situated on the north-eastern side of 

 Monte Lungo, near its base, and about a mile and a half from the 

 sea. Like San Ciro, the Maccagnone Cave is about 50 feet above the 

 termination of the pliocene marine terrace where it abuts against the 

 Pf ippurite-limestone, and at a corresponding elevation above the sea ; 

 both caves partaking in many respects of common physical characters. 

 But in its form, and some of its deposits, the Maccagnone Cavern dif- 

 fers materially from San Ciro. It is much broader and more sinuous 

 at the sides than San Ciro, with several large cul-de-sac expansions ; 

 but not so long ; and the roof is much lower, being but 11 feet high 

 at the principal entrance, and about 10 feet in the middle. There 

 are two entrances, the principal of which is 25-1- feet wide, and open 

 down to the floor : the other, on the same side of the hill, is a much 

 smaEer, irregular aperture, in connexion with an irregular expansion 

 of the cavern at its south-eastern corner, into which it descends. 

 The author gave the principal dimensions, which were accompanied 

 by a ground-plan and section (figs. 1 & 2). The uppermost layer 

 of the floor consists throughout of loose, argillaceous, finely pul- 

 verized soil, containing large imbedded blocks of limestone ; beneath 

 this, in the section below the mouth, was a thick deposit of the ochre- 

 ous loamy earth (called "Cave -earth"), containing blocks of lime- 

 stone ; then, in thick patches, a reddish-grey and mottled spongy 

 loam, cemented by calcareous infiltration, and very cellular, called 

 from its appearance, by the peasants who were employed on the ex- 

 cavation, " Ceneri impastate," or " concrete of ashes ;" and below all, 

 stretching on either side of the mouth, as at San Ciro, a great ag- 

 gregation of bone-breccia, full of bones of Hippopotamus, among 

 which the author in four days collected a very large number of 

 astragali. The whole of the bone-breccia was strewed over with 

 huge blocks of limestone which had fallen since its deposition. No- 

 thing is known of the nature of the inferior deposits down to the floor. 

 The author thinks it probable that there may be a great accumula- 

 tion of bone-breccia below, with polished and bored walls, as in San 

 Ciro ; but the excavations requisite to establish this were too labo- 

 rious and extensive for the limited time at his disposal. The interior 

 of the cavern is coated over throughout by a crust of rough, reddish 

 or ochreous stalagmite. The surface-layer of the floor had been 

 previously dug for fossil bones as far back as 1830, and but few 

 remains were found in it. One — an important specimen — was a 

 milk-molar of Elephas antiquus. At the side below the southern wall 

 of the cavern, and about halfway in, a thick layer was observed of 



