MR J. W. GREGORY ON THE MALTESE FOSSIL ECHINOIDEA. 631 



of France, where the conditions varied much less than in Malta, we find, as Tournouer 

 says, that " the Faluns of Leognan and of Saucats contain scarcely anything in common 

 with the fauna of the Calcaire a Asteries or of Gaas." * 



The number of species peculiar to the islands is very high, and might lead one at 

 first to suppose that species had been made on too minute differences; but a closer 

 comparison of these with their nearest allies in other parts of the Mediterranean basin 

 shows that they are as a rule separated by very distinct characters. The same feature is 

 noticed in the corresponding beds in Italy and Corsica. The Echinoids described by 

 M. Cotteau from the latter number 45 species, of which 21 are confined to the island; 

 while the interesting little fauna described by M. de Loriol, from Tuscany, contained 

 8 new species, and only two which were known elsewhere, and one of these is doubtful. 

 When we consider the wide distribution of the species of lower and of higher horizons, 

 this localisation of the deep-sea species is of great interest. 



V. The Correlation of the Maltese Beds. 



The Miocene deposits of the Mediterranean basin have been classified upon two 

 different principles. On the one hand, Professor Suss showed, in 1866,t that the richly 

 fossiliferous sands and limestones of the Vienna basin, then known as the " Mediterranean 

 stage," belonged to two different epochs in the Miocene era, and that they were shallow 

 water beds separated by a deposit formed at a much greater depth. The two former ■he- 

 grouped as the first and second " Mediteran-Stufen," and to the intermediate bed he 

 applied the term " Schlier."J Later workers have filled in the details, and, though not 

 without opposition, as that of Dr Stur in Austria, § and of Professor Capellini|j in North 

 Italy, have shown that Professor Strss's classification has given the clue to the unravelling 

 of the sequence of the varying deposits of the Cainozoic group of the Eastern Mediter- 

 ranean. Foremost amongst these geologists is Herr Th. Fughs, who, in conjunction with 

 KarrerI in the Vienna basin, supported by Manzoni, # * and MazzettiH" in Romagna, 



* " Note stratigraphique et palentologique sur les faluns du departement de la Gironde," Bull. Soc. g4ol. France (2), 

 xix.., 1862, p. 1069. 



t Untersuchungen liber den Character der oesterreichischen Terliarablagerungen. I, " Ueber die Gliederung der 

 tertiaren Bildungen zwischen dem Mannhart, der Donau und dem ausseren Saume des Hochgebirges," Sitz. k. k. Ak. 

 Wiss. Wien, liv., 1866, Abt. 1, pp. 87-149. \ Ibid., p. 118. 



§ Dr Stur, " Beitrage zur Kenntniss der stratigraphischen Verhaltnisse der marinen Stufe des Wiener Beckens," 

 Jahrb. k. k. geol. Eeichs., xx., 1870, pp. 303-342. " Zur Leithakalk-Frage," Verh. k. k. geol. Reichs., 1871, pp. 230-234. 



|| G. Cappellini, " Sui terreni terziari di una parte del versante settentrionale dell' Appennino," Mem. Ace. Sc. 

 Instit. Bologna (3), vi., 1876, pp. 587-621. "Sulle marne glauconifere dei dintomi di Bologna," Boll. R. Com. geol. 

 Italia, viii., 1877, pp. 398-406 ; and Rendic. Ace. Sei. 1st. Bol., 1877, pp. 110-121. 



H Th. Fdchs and F. Karrer, " Geologische Studien in den Tertiarbildungen des Wiener Beekens," No. 1-21, 

 Jahrb. k. k. geol. Reichs., Bd. xviii.-xxv. 



** A. Manzoni, " Lo Schlier di Ottnang nell' Alta Austria e lo Schlier delle colline di Bologna,* Boll. R. Com. 

 geol. Italia, vii., 1876, pp. 122-132. "Geologia della provincia di Bologna," Ann. Soc. Nat. Modena, xiv., fasc. 1, 1880, 

 pp. 1-33. " Gli Echinodermi fossili dello Schlier delle colline di Bologna," Denk. k. Ak. Wiss. Wien, xxxix., Th. 2, 

 1879, pp. 149-164, pi. i.-iv. " Echinodermi fossili della Molassa serpentinosa e supplemento agli Echinodermi dello 

 Schlier delle colline di Bologna," ib., xlii., Th. 2, 1880, pp. 185-190, pi. i.-iii. 



ft G. Mazzeiti, " La molassa raarnosa delle montagne Modenesi e Reggiane e lo Schlier delle colline Bolognese,'* 

 Ann. Soc. Nat. Modena, xiii., 1879, pp. 105-126. 



