THE MEDITERRAKKAN NATURALIST 
new lava stream in the form of the letter L the 
horizontal portion of which is still being prolonged 
down the Atrio towards the Fossa della Yetrana. 
In the morning of the 30th of t June much dust 
had fallen at the lower railway station, of which 
we collected some bags full. It is the usual fine 
sandy material of these eruptions and consists of 
the pulverized materials of the cone of eruption. 
Having passed the night at the lower railway 
station, the next day we crossed the Atrio, ascended 
to the W. extremity of the ridge of Soinrna, and 
followed this along so as get a general birds-eye 
view of the whole scene of the eruption, and take 
photographs of the more important points. In 
the middle of the ridge we found a thin coating of 
fine red dust, which had reached thus far from the 
crater. Much of the Atrio was also covered by the 
same material. Scaling the cliff face just beyond 
the Cognulo di Ottajano to the Atrio del Cavallo 
we again visited the lower point of outburst. Most 
of the beautiful fumaroles were in a state of ruin 
and lined by good sized cristals of haematite and 
mixed chloride crusts. Here the lava was quite 
solid though at one point was a hole some 50 m. 
from the base of the great cone, where we could 
see the molten rock flowing lazily along about a 
metre beneath our feet. 
The lava of the end of the flow was making 
considerable progress to the westwards and stood 
opposite dyke 13. 
Since then few changes have taken place in the 
mountain — the crater still gets larger, dust is 
thrown out and the lava descends. These pheno- 
mena are capable of continuing for months if the 
drainage opening does not enlarge. As the erup- 
tion progresses I will send your further details. 
H. J. Johnstox-L a v is. 
Notes on the Recent Foraminifera 
of Malta, 
BY 
E. A. Eabland & J. If. Cooke. 
STATION I. 
The material from which the following forami- 
niferal forms were obtained was dredged from 
the French Creek of the Grand Harbour, Valletta, 
Malta, in 5 fathoms of water, It consisted of a 
| tenacious, dark-blue, highly calcareous mud, that 
was made up of clayey particles intermixed with 
fragments of the remains of Gasteropods, Crusta- 
ceans, Echinoderms, Folyzoa, Ostracodes, Lamel- 
libranchs, Calcareous Algae, and small, starved 
specimens of foraminifera. 
The creek is surrounded on three sides by the 
| Globigerina Limestone, (the second formation in 
j the ascending order of the Malta series o f rocks), 
| which is highly susceptible to atmospheric influ- 
! ences, and which, therefore, weathers readily. 
This rock consists of about 80 per cent of Cal- 
cium Carbonate, nearly, the whole of which is 
made up of foraminifera. As the creek receives 
die drainage of an extensive area in which this 
rock predominates at the surface, a no inconsi- 
derable quantity of the fossil foraminifera is 
periodically carried down and deposited with the 
recent forms in the bottom mud. Many of these 
were met with in the washings, during the after 
examination. 
An analysis of a sample of the mud showed it to 
consist of 75 per cent of Carbonate of Lime, the 
other 25 per cent being made np of alumina, 
sponge spicules, diatomaceous forms, fragments of 
quartz, angite, felspars, coal-dust ifec. 
The following is the result of Mr. Earland’s 
examination, and his notes on the specimens 
found. 
The material contained a number of ostracoda 
and other remains, but presented few forms of 
interest, most of the foraminifera being rather 
poor specimens. 
Forty-six species in all were determined from the 
small amount of material examined (about 2 
ounces, the residue after washing, of several pounds 
of dredging). 
The most noticeable forms obtained were : — 
Bolivina nobilis , Hantken. Several specimens 
referable to this species, were discovered. They 
present all the characteristics of the form as figured 
iu the Challenger Monograph, but are. not very 
strongly marked. The species has only previously 
been reported in the recent state from the South 
Pacific, where it was found in several localities 
by the Challenger expedition. The origin;} 
specimens were fossils from the Miocene of 
Hungary 
