MIOCENE BEDS OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS. 529 
and this is the only record of its existence in the Maltese strata. 
The specimen was, perhaps, from the Calcareous Sandstone. 
Pratax Woopwarni, Agassiz. 
Several specimens discovered by me in the Calcareous Sandstone 
of Malta were subsequently determined by the late Dr. S. P. 
Woodward, F.G.8. They were of the pear-shaped outline, with a 
process and small indentation on one side, representing the concre- 
tionary appendage of the vertebre and ribs, like the specimens 
common in the Red Crag. 
Dropon. 
This group is represented by teeth varying much in dimensions. 
It is one of the few vertebrates hitherto discovered in the Upper 
Limestone, where, doubtless, there are more than one species. Teeth 
are not uncommon in the Calcareous Sandstone, but chiefly in the 
nodule seams; whilst unusually large specimens indicate very large 
globe fishes in the Lower Limestone. 
SPHRODUS. 
This genus is well dispersed throughout all the beds, and was 
evidently represented by several distinct forms. ‘Teeth of a species 
not distinguishable from those of S. gigas, Pictet, are rather common 
in the Sand bed. I have seen impressions of the greater portions of 
the skeleton of a fish of the type of Spherodus in the Calcareous 
Sandstone, where the smaller teeth are occasionally found. I quite 
anticipate that the future will show a large addition to the 
Pycnodont fishes of the Maltese Miocene beds. 
The question whether the stratified seams of nodules and the lumps 
of yellow clay with pholad-borings met with in the Marl together 
with other adventitious materials and their associated animal remains 
belong to the same period as the beds in which they are found, 
seems to me scarcely to admit of a positive answer at present. 
The lumps of ochreous-coloured clay met with in masses several 
inches in circumference are very irregularly dispersed throughout 
the Marl, and seem to have been derived from the degradation of 
older beds. The hardened nodules of the Calcareous Sandstone with 
particles of Sharks teeth and tests of Echinide and Mollusca found in 
their interior, together with the abundant animal remains associated 
with them, might point to their redeposition. But a very large 
number of the species found in the nodule-seams are also dispersed 
throughout the beds in situations where their appearance indicates a 
tranquil deposition, as further shown by the entire skeletons of fishes 
&c. found along with them. At the same time the Mastodon, Hali- 
therium, Squalodon, and Delphinus, more or less met with in all ex- 
cepting the Upper Limestone, seem to preserve the Miocene facies 
both for the nodule seams and the respective beds in which the 
remains are found, 
202 
