MIOCENE BEDS OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS. 519 
nifer just named, which, however, is not confined to it, but is met 
with in all the beds, although never in the exceeding numbers which 
characterize the red or Heterostegina-stratum. 
Of Vertebrata, out of 15 forms in the Sand bed, only two species 
of Pycnodont fishes have, so far as I know, turned up in the Upper 
Limestone. 
There is, however, a decided agreement between the Invertebrata, 
as is shown by no less than 14 genera and many species being 
common to both. 
The genus Pecten, so plentiful in the Maltese Miocene, is represented 
in the Sand bed by four species, also met with in the Upper Lime- 
stone. Of the Brachiopoda, Verebratula sinuosa and Meyerlia 
truncata are common to both formations, besides nine species of 
Hechinodermata, whilst nearly all the Polyzoa, Coelenterata, and 
Protozoa seem undistinguishable. 
III. The Mart Bep varies very much in thickness, thinning out for 
a depth of upwards of a hundred feet to scarcely an indication of its 
presence. Itis the most perishable of the beds, and is being rapidly de- 
nuded. It varies in colour and compesition, from a dark blue or drab 
colour to a light brown or grey; some sorts form a fair plastic clay, 
being both stiff and tenacious, whilst the light-coloured run in the 
form of horizontal bands. 
Of foreign components, nodules of sulphuret and peroxide of — 
iron, and gypsum, are plentiful, and often incrust the fossil remains, 
whilst the crystalline and lamellar varieties of gypsum are also 
common. Besides these, nodules of an ochreous-coloured clay per- 
forated by Pholad-borings, and containing casts of these mollusks, are 
not rare, and are apparently derivative. 
The most characteristic fossils of the Marl are a cuttle-bone of a 
small Sepia and casts of Nautilus, which Dr. Woodward, F.R.S., 
and his late brother, Dr. 8. P. Woodward, F.G.S., assured me are 
undistinguishable from the typical specimen of Nautilus ziczac. 
The organic remains are not, as a rule, in a good state of pre- 
servation ; however, out of 25 genera and species of Mollusca be- 
longing to the Sand bed, I have recognized as many as 13 in the 
Marl. ‘The only Brachiopod of the two upper formations that I 
have likewise found in the Marl is Verebratula sinuosa, which is not 
uncommon, and is the only representative of the group I have seen 
from this bed. : 
Of the 11 Echinodermata of the Sand bed not a single species has 
turned up hitherto to my knowledge in the Marl; but Achinolampas 
Laurillardi is common to the Marl and the Upper Limestone, whilst 
Hemiaster Scille makes its first appearance in the Marl. These are 
the only Echinida I haye found in the latter, excepting ossicles of un- 
determined species of Asteroidea, which are found in all the for- 
mations. 
TV. The Catcarnovus SAnpsTonr. 
The point of transition between the Marl and the Calcareous 
Sandstone is often abrupt. 
The latter presents considerable variability both in the general 
