1870. ] CARUANA—FOSSIL ELEPHANTS OF MALTA. 435 
narrow vertical rent, varying in width from 3 to 5 inches, and 
filled, as usual, with red earth and fragments of stone, which may be 
traced from the surface of the rock, traverses the sandstone quarry 
for a distance of 60 feet, and runs on, constantly increasing in depth, 
towards the south-south-west, in the direction of the Gandia fissure, 
with which it probably unites at a distance of less than a quarter of 
a mile. The expanded portion of the fissure in which the bones 
were found was in the shape of half a barrel cut through the’ flat 
ends; and it measured from 2 to 3 feet in width, 10 feet in length, 
and a little more than 6 feet in depth. It was covered by a large 
block of sandstone. The sides of the fissure were, as usual, perfectly 
smooth. It had no stalagmitic floor. 
The fissure was filled with a compact deposit of red earth, with 
fragments of limestone, containing throughout teeth and fragments 
of bones of fossil elephants, associated with bones of large birds, 
as in the Gandia fissure; but no shells were observed. A tooth, 
which the author supposed to be that of a Hippopotamus, was also 
obtained*. The author also met with three small fish-teeth. 
The remains of Elephants obtained from this fissure consist chiefly 
of fragments of the long bones. Several of the Elephants’ teeth 
were entire, and they were generally rather better preserved than 
those discovered in the Gandia fissure. A fragment of a tusk, 
21 inches in length, was obtained; the greatest circumference of 
this was 17 inches, or 2 inches more than the specimen found by Dr. 
A. Leith Adams at Tal-Maghlak. 
This fissure at Is-Shantiin is said by the author to raise the 
number of localities in Malta in which Elephant-remains have been 
found in abundance to five, namely :—the cave at Casal Zebbug, dis- 
covered in 1859 by Capt. Spratt; two caves at Tal-Maghlak, in 
Casal Krendi, discovered by Dr. A. Leith Adams in 1861 ; the Gandia 
fissure, within the limits of Casal Micabibba and Casal Siggeni, ex- 
cayated in 1865 by Dr. Adams and the author; and the Is-Shantiin 
fissure at the entrance to Casal Micabibba. ‘These localities are all 
in the denuded district of the eastern half of the island; and in this 
direction there is abundant evidence of the existence of many similar 
ossiferous fissures. From the mode of occurrence of these bones the 
author infers that, at the time of their deposition where we now find 
them, that part of the island was exposed to the impetuous wash of 
continuous and rapid currents of fresh water. The remains already 
found indicate the existence of three species of Elephants, two or 
more species of Hippopotamus, one species of gigantic Dormouse and 
other large extinct animals, which must have wandered over the 
island in large numbers, probably associated with Carnivora, of which, 
however, no remains have been discovered in Malta, although the 
author has found a portion of the lower jaw of Hyena in the island 
of Gozo. He considered that the area of the island was wholly in- 
adequate for the shelter and support of so many large mammals, and, 
considering their affinity to African species, and certain hydro- 
graphical conditions noticed by Capt. Spratt, he inferred that, at the 
* See Dr, Adams’s note at the end of this paper. 
