S IReview of IRatural Science. 
Yol. III., No. 26 . 
MALTA, OCTOBER 1st. 
5/- Per annum. 
CONTENTS 
— — Page 
1 The Utilization of the Waste Lands of Malta— 411 
John H. Cooke 
2 Plant Extremes 414 
3 Egyptian Horses 415 
4 Notes sur la geologic de l’Etbai nord ou ddsert Est 
egyptien— E. O. Floyer 415 
5 The Mystery of the Moon 417 
6 Local Notes— A. C.G. 418 
7 Starlings— A. Walker ' 419 
8 On the Occurrence of EcheneisNaucratesin Maltese 
Waters— Prof. N. Tagliaferro 421 
9 A Novel Industry 421 
10 Sui Limacidi dell’ Algeria— Prof.. C. Pollonera 422 
11 Method of taking plaster casts of Natural History 
Objects 425 
12 The Orange Disease in Cape Colony— S. D. Bair- 
stow F. L.S. 425 
13 Hints for Young Collectors 428 
14 Note s and Neics : — Capture of a Sea-Cow— Orange 
disease in China— Discovery of Phoenician re- 
mains in Malta— Maltese agricultural methods - 
Disease of the olive tree. Egypt’s date paitns— 
Reptilian fauna of Malta— Tapeworm statistics 
—Malta bees and their work— Locust-egg oil— 
An antiquarian’s opinions— etc. etc., etc. 429 
15 Maltese Meteorology 434 
NOTICES. 
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Special Notice. 
Back numbers may be had price one 
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Editor. 
To Correspondents. 
In consequence of our absence from 
Malta, the publication of this, the October 
number, has been considerably delayed. 
26 
The Utilization of the Waste Lands of 
Malta. 
A New Industry for the Maltese — A Suggestion . 
The progress of industrialism in Malta has, of 
late years, been steadily on the decline, and at the 
present time considerable difficulty is being expe- 
rienced in finding the wherewithal to employ the 
teeming and ever increasing population of the 
islands. 
Among every section of the agricultural, the 
commercial, and the industrial portions of the 
community the effects of over population are mak- 
ing themselves markedly apparent ; and eviden- 
ces are not wanting to show that unless steps be 
taken to introduce some radical changes in the 
present industrial status quo , either by enlarging 
the field of labour, or by fostering a spirit of 
progress and enterprise among the people, the day 
is not far distant when the Maltese labourer will 
have no alternative between emigration to other 
lands, and the endurance of a life-long state of 
chronic indigence amongst the limited and impo- 
verished resources of his native islands. I am 
well aware that this subject is a well worn one. 
It has long exercised the minds of the legislators 
of the islands, and from time to time attempts 
have been made to wrestle with it : but, either 
from misguided efforts, or from want of energy 
and persistence of purpose, most of the schemes 
that have been inaugurated have resulted in par- 
tial or in total failure. 
Haphazard speculations have been attempted 
and like all undertakings that hav6 not been con- 
ducted on sound scientific principles they have ail 
ended in discouragement and disaster. 
Several suggestions have lately been made in 
the local papers of a more or less Utopian charac- 
ter: but it is not by talking about the undertak- 
ing of fruitless researches after artesian systems, 
coal, petroleum and other minerals, which science 
