50 THE PLEISTOCENE BEDS OP THE MALTESE ISLANDS. [Feb. 1 895, 



of denudation which was active when Malta was part of a much 

 larger area than at present, and connected with the neighbouring 

 continents ; when it had a larger rainfall, and a fauna consisting 

 of elephants, hippopotami, deer, bears, etc., suggesting continental 

 conditions. 



Prof. Hull recognized the careful manner in which the Author had 

 worked out the structural features of the islands, and had shown by 

 his section the submarine relationship between the strata of Malta 

 and Grozo. He was also gratified by finding that the Author admitted 

 that the present streams and amount of rainfall were quite in- 

 sufficient to account for the deep valleys cut down through the 

 plateaux. He concurred with him in believing that they pointed to 

 a former condition of these islands when they formed a part of an 

 extensive land area, now submerged, and a period of greater rain- 

 fall — namely, that known as the Pluvial- — intermediate between 

 the Pliocene and the present. That Malta once formed a portion 

 of the causeway connecting Europe with North Africa was a view 

 that had the support of several geologists, including the late Admiral 

 Spratt and the late Dr. Leith Adams, and one in which he (the 

 speaker) fully concurred. 



Mr. Monckton asked whether the facts brought forward as evi- 

 dence of a recent submergence of the islands did not rather point 

 to an increased altitude, possibly accompanied by great rainfall and 

 snow. The presence of land-shells and the absence of marine or 

 fluviatile remains seemed also to favour elevation rather than 

 subsidence. 



Dr. Dtr Eiche Pkellee agreed with the previous speaker that a 

 gradual emergence of the Maltese Islands was much more likely than 

 the submergence in Pleistocene times suggested by the Author ; the 

 more so as Gastaldi on geological, and Forsyth Major on independent 

 biological grounds, had demonstrated the former existence of a 

 Mediterranean continent, of which the Maltese Islands must also 

 have formed part. 



Dr. % J. "W. Gregory referred to the excellent work done by 

 Mr. Cooke in the zonal collection of fossils from the Oligocene and 

 Miocene rocks of Malta, and had no doubt this paper contained a 

 mass of carefully observed facts. He hoped that these would throw 

 light on the direction of the old river-valleys in the days before 

 Malta was reduced to its present size. He doubted whether any 

 of these Pleistocene deposits could have been formed during the 

 emergence of the island from the sea, as there seemed no evidence of 

 its submergence since the Tortonian or Upper Miocene epoch. 



Mr. Maee also spoke. 



