a flDontblv Journal of Batural Science. 
Vol. I, No. 2. MALTA, JULY 1st. 1891. 
CONTENTS. 
— — Page 
1 A retrospective periplus of the Mediterranean Sea 
Cav. W. Jervis, F. G.S. — — — 13 
2 The locust plague in Egypt and Algeria — — 17 
3 Recent researches of G. B. Sc&iaparelli at Milan. — 17 
4 Natural science in Tunis — — — 18 
5 The Oxycephalids by Professor Dr. C. Bovallius — 19 
t> Preservation of the colours of plants, G. D. Druce, 
M.A., F.L.S. — — - - 19 
7 Phosphate beds around London — — — 20 
8 Discovery of coves in Corsica — — — 20 
9 The Gozo Pleistocene Bed — — — 20 
10 News of the Month Earthquake in Italy— The 
Maltese Lepidoptera— “L’Annuaire G6ologique 
Universel” — — — — 20 
11 The Eruption of Vesuvius — Dr. Johnston-Lavis, 
M.D., F.G.S., B.Sc., etc, — — — 21 
12 Observations on the Geology of the Maltese Islands, 
The Editor — — — — 22 
13 Science notes :— Greatest depth of the Mediterranean 
—The Samos fossils— Excavation at Pompeii etc. 27 
11 Correspondence— Exchange Column — — 28 
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A retrospective periplus of the 
Mediterranean Sea 
Let us go round , 
A nd let the sail be slack, the course be slow, 
That at our leisure, as we coast along, 
We may contemplate, and from each scene 
Receive its influence 
Rogers. 
Ages ago, long run out~~so we learn from geolo- 
gical research — the Mediterranean sea was incom- 
parably larger than at present, forming an immense 
ocean, com muni mating eastward through the Black 
Sea and the sea of Aral besides occupying a vast 
tract of Central Asia to the confines of Bokhara. 
Together with the Bed Sea with which it was 
then united, it washed the north-west shores of 
the largest island in the globe, but which, owing 
to the subsequent accumulation of blown sea-sand, 
now forming the isthmus of Suez, was eventually 
joined on to Asia; while, from the gulf of Cabes 
in close proximity to Malta, a magnificent arm of 
the sea washed the southern shores of a long 
sub-tropical island, now* united to the main land 
and constituting Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis, 
and covering the greater part of Northern Afri a, 
opened out free communication from Egypt to the 
Atlantic between Senegal and Morocco, 
But having successively lost in pristine extent, 
as if in a sulky fit, it seemed determined to leave 
indelible traces of desolation, if not of actual 
curse, everywhere behind in the form of its desert 
sandy bottom, where to this day no vegetable or 
animal life can find subsistance where the hurtful 
sirocco and typhoon originate, and where water, 
the universal blessing of nature, is unknown 
alike to the heavens above or on the earth beneath 
Moreover, the sub-tropical climate of its northern 
shores became considerably lowered, and snow for 
the first time appeared on the mountain tops, the 
types of animal and vegetable life undergoing 
profound changes. 
