424 OSBORN AND REEDS PREHISTORY OF MAN IN EUROPE 



that "de Lamothe makes an effort to show that each of these shorelines 

 is the result of a lowering of the sealevel or move merit negative, followed 

 by a movement positive, or elevation of the sea"; in other words, a 

 regressive movement, followed by a transgressive one. Furthermore, each 

 shoreline observed is supplemented by a series of marine and alluvial 

 sediments which were deposited during the transgressive phase. 



Deperet and Gignoux trace these four Quaternary shorelines observed 

 by de Lamothe on the African coast along the Sicilian, Italian, and 

 French coasts, Gignoux (1913.1) making the generalization that the 

 whole western Mediterranean basin exhibits stratigraphic and paleon- 

 tologic characters of four Quaternary marine stages, with decrea sing- 

 levels of 90-100 meters, 55-60 meters, 30 meters, and 15-18 meters, 

 thus constituting four distinct stratigraphic units, each corresponding 

 to a complete sedimentation cycle on a shoreline of a determined level. 

 On this primary basis Deperet divides the marine Quaternary of the 

 western Mediterranean into four etages resting on the Upper Pliocene, 

 as follows : 



Post-Monastirian Stage. — Mediterranean shorelines raised to present level, 

 with a temporary halt at the height of 6 to 8 meters, of which numer- 

 ous traces appear on the French coast, but insufficient to constitute a 

 distinct stratigraphic unit. 



(4» Monastirian Stage, Deperet. — Corresponding to shoreline of 18-20 meters, 

 named for the city of Monastir, Tunis, which is situated on an ex- 

 tensive plateau belonging to this horizon, with fossiliferous beds of 

 great richness (278 species cited by de Lamothe). Traced to Algero- 

 Tunisian coast and possibly to Sicily. Marked climatic difference be- 

 tween the faunas of the European and African coasts". 



(3) Tyrrhenian Stage, Issel. — Corresponding to 2S-30 meter shoreline, distin- 

 guished as the Strombus bubomus zone of the whole circumference of 

 the Mediterranean. Warm invertebrate fauna with subtropical affini- 

 ties, some species of which still exist in the Canaries and on the 

 African-Atlantic coast. 



(2) Milazzian Stage, Deperet.— Shoreline of 55-60 meters. Named after the 

 peninsula of Milazzo, northern coast of Sicily. Warm fauna de- 

 scribed by Gignoux, with persistent Pliocene species. Temperature 

 warmer than the modern Mediterranean, but less warm than the suc- 

 ceeding Strombus seas of the Tyrrhenian Stage. Traced along the 

 Sicilian and Italian coasts. 



i,l) Sicilian Stage, Doderlein. — A shoreline of 90-100 meters, typified in the 

 old gulf or Conque d ? Or of Palermo — a preserved sea-bottom contain- 

 ing a fauna with maximum frequency of species of temperate and 

 polar Atlantic seas — for example, Cyprina islandica, etcetera. Trace- 

 able into Sicily, Calabria, Italy, and on the French and north African 

 coasts. 

 Calabrian. Upper Pliocene, with a prevailing Pliocene fauna, many species 

 of which become extinct in the overlying Sicilian Stage. 



