( 585 ) 



XXII. — The Maltese Fossil Echinoidea, and their Evidence on the Correlation of the 

 Maltese Rocks. By J. W. Gregory, B.Sc, F.G.S., F.Z.S., of the British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist.). Communicated by John Murray, LL.D. (With Two Plates.) 



(Read July 6, 1891.) 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



1. Introduction, 585 



2. Description of the Echinoidea, . . 586 



3. Miscellaneous Records, . . . 627 



PAGE 



4. List of Species and their Distribution, . 629 



5. The Correlation of the Maltese 



Series, 631 



Introduction. 



The rocks which form the Maltese islands have been at various times referred to 

 very different parts of the Cainozoic group. At first they were all assigned to the 

 Eocene, but a further knowledge of their fossils led to the transference of the whole 

 series to the Miocene, in which system they have been included by most English writers. 

 Herr Th. Fuchs, however, who first attempted any precise determination of the horizons 

 of the subdivisions, correlated the Upper Limestone with the Leithakalk * and the Blue 

 Clay with the Schlier,t and included the two lowest beds in the Oligocene. Dr Murray, 

 however, in the course of his recent Memoir, J has explained the striking palseontological 

 differences between the faunas of the different deposits as due to altered conditions of 

 formation rather than to lapse of time, and seems to follow earlier authors in including 

 the whole series in the Miocene. 



The Echinoidea of these deposits were originally described by Dr Wright in 1855,§ 

 with additions and corrections in 1864 ;|| but since that time much work has been done 

 on the allied faunas. Many of the species identified by Dr Wright were only known to 



* Th. Fuchs, " Das Alter der Tertiarschichten von Malta," Sitz. k. k. Ak. Wiss. Wien, lxx., Abth. 1, 1874, pp. 92- 

 105 ; " Die Versuche einer Gliederung des unteren Neogen im Gebiete der Mittelmeers," Zeit. deut. geol. Ges., xxxvii., 

 1885, p. 141. 



t Th. Fuchs, " Uber den sogenannten ' Badner Tegel ' auf Malta," Sitz. k. k. Ak. Wiss. Wien, lxxiii., Abth. i., 1876, 

 pp. 67-74, pi. i. 



% J. Murray, " The Maltese Islands, with special reference to their Geological Structure," Scott. Geogr. Mag., vi., 

 1890, pp. 449-488, pi. i. ii. 



§ T. Wright, " On Fossil Echinoderms from the Island of Malta, with Notes on the Stratigraphical Distribution 

 of the Fossil Organisms in the Maltese Beds," Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), xv. pp. 101-127, 175-196, 262-277, pi. iv.-vii. 

 (This paper was also issued in the Proc. Gotteswold Field Club, ii., 1855, pp. 55-117, pi. iv.-vii., and some of the species 

 should perhaps really date from that work ; but as it happens to make no difference, the more accessible publication 

 only is referred to.) 



II T. Wright, " On the Fossil Echinidae of Malta, with additional Notes on the Miocene Beds of the Island, and 

 the Stratigraphical Distribution of the Species therein, by A. Leith Adams," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, xx., 1864, 

 pp. 470-491, pi. xxi. xxii. Professor Forbes had previously published a few lines on the Echinoids, " Report on the 

 Collections of Tertiary Fossils from Malta and Gozo," Proc. Geol. Soc, iv., 1844, pp. 231-232. 



VOL. XXXVI. PART III. (NO. 22). 4 U 



