8(5 



Prof. J. Prestwich. On the Evidences of a [Mar. 9, 



Marseilles " for use in the sugar factories." How could this bone 

 breccia have been accumulated ? No predaceous animals could have 

 brought together such a collection, and, though Hycence lived at the 

 time, they have left no traces of their presence, nor marks of "their 

 teeth, in this wonderful mass of bones. These have been classed with 

 the contents of bone caves, but the author shows that there are 

 objections to this. The only other suggestion made is that the bones- 

 are those of successive generations of Hippopotami which went there 

 to die. But this is not the habit of the animal, and, besides, the 

 bones are those of animals of all ages down to the foetus, nor do the 

 bones show any traces of weathering or of variable exposure. The 

 author suggests an explanation founded on the local topographical 

 features. The plain of Palermo is encircled by an amphitheatre of 

 hills rising to the height of 2000 to 3000 feet, and presenting mural 

 precipices towards the plain. The caves .are situated near the base 

 of this escarpment, and at San Ciro the breccia not only faces the 

 cave, but extends to some distance in front and on either side. 

 When, therefore, the island was submerged, the animals in the plain 

 of Palermo would naturally retreat, as the waters advanced, deeper 

 into the amphitheatre of hills until they found themselves embayed as 

 in a seine, with promontories running out to sea on either side, and a 

 mural precipice in front. As the area became more circumscribed 

 the animals must have thronged together in vast multitudes, crush- 

 ing into the more accessible caves, and swarming over the ground at 

 their entrance, until overtaken by the waters and destroyed. A few 

 of the more agile animals may have escaped, for though the remains 

 of Deer, Ox, Bear, and Felidas occur, they are exceedingly scarce ; 

 but the unwieldy Hippopotami perished ( in hundreds. As the land 

 afterwards emerged by intermittent stages, first the rocky debris, 

 and finally large blocks from the sides of the hills were hurled down, 

 crushing and smashing the bones, which are, with few exceptions, 

 broken into thousands of fragments. The author accounts for the 

 numbers of Hippopotami by the fact that after the formation of the 

 B-aised Beaches there was, as he has previously shown, a considerable 

 elevation of the coast, which, no doubt, led, as in more western Europe, 

 to a large increase of the land area : so that the plain of Palermo may 

 then have been of great extent. 



Malta. — The drift deposits of Malta present on the whole the same 

 general features as those of Sicily, but, owing to its peculiar popula- 

 tion of dwarf Elephants with the small Hippopotamus, and the 

 absence of other larger Quaternary Mammalia, the faunal remains 

 have a distinct local colouring. They indicate that, like the Channel 

 Islands, Malta had been long isolated before the spread of the Rubble- 

 drift ; but, nevertheless, it is evident that it did not escape the 

 catastrophe which affected the adjacent lands. On the south side of 



