206 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
The valleys tliat divide these uplands generally 
-run in a direction that is parallel to the principal 
faults of the locality, and most of them divide 
the plateaux into a series of spurs that abut on 
the low-lying plains on the north and east. Along 
all of these spurs three or more of the seams crop 
out, so that they serve as constant feeders to the 
soil in the plains beneath. 
A considerable difference of opinion has been 
expressed as to what period of geologic time the 
strata of the Maltese Islands should be referred'. 
The late Admiral Spratt, Prof. L. Adams, Prof. 
T. R. .Jones, as well as many other eminent Medi- 
terranean geologists were divided as to whether 
they should be considered as being of Eocene or 
of Miocene age. Latterly, the subject has received 
most careful attention at the hands of Prof. Thos. 
Fuchs, the Vienna geologist Dr. John Murray, 
and Mr. J. W. Gregory, F.G.S. and from the con- 
sideration of the lithological and paleontological 
characters of the rocks, and a comparison with 
their continental analogues, it has been concluded 
that the lower half is certainly of Oligocene Age, 
and most probably Tongrian, whereas the upper 
half, in which the phosphate seams occur, is 
certainly Miocene and finds its equivalent in the 
rocks of the Vienna Basin. 
The following table will best illustrate the 
order in which the Maltese beds occur, and the 
relation that they bear to the Austrian series. 
All of the beds preserve the same relative 
position in every part of the group, and as they 
are all more or lass horizontal, their geological 
structure is of a very simple character In the 
| eastern half of Malta, beds I, II, and III are 
missing, having probably been swept away by one 
of the many oscillations of level which occurred in 
pre-historic times when the connection between 
the continents of Europe and Africa, via Malta, 
was severed; but in the western portions, though 
faults are more numerous, the physical and stra- 
tigraphical features of the series more nearly 
approximate to those that characterize the Gozitan 
beds. 
The five formations which constitute the Maltese 
series, vary lithologically and chemically, but as 
it does not lie within the scope of this article to 
discuss the differences in detail, I shall limit my 
remarks to pointing out those only that have a 
direct bearing upon the subject which I am now 
treating. 
From the following table, which has been 
compiled from analyses made by Dr. John Murray, 
Prof, J. Blake, and myself, it will be seen that all 
of the beds contain phosphoric acid combined with 
calcium in a greater or a lesser degree. 
Bed I. Upper Coralline Limestone contains 
traces to 2 % of P2 05 
Bed II. Greensands contains traces to 6 .. 
„ III, Blue Clay traces only. 
The Maltese Islands. 
ViennaBasin 
Series 
No. 
Formation. 
Thickness. 
Sub-division. 
f a. Compact, white, limestone 
Leithakalk 
Tortonian 
Miocene 
I 
Upper Coralline 
Limestone. 
250 ft. 
of a breccia like texture, 
j b. Soft, porous, red lime- 
[ stone. 
( a. Compact, yellow sand- 
'j Grand. 
J Sehiehten. 
Helvetian 
II 
Greensands 
50 ft. 
I stone. 
(A. Friable, black sandstone. 
III 
Blue Clay 
30 ft. 
J a. Yellow clay. 
[b. Blue clay. 
~j Schlier 
Langliian 
IV 
Globigerina Lime- 
200 ft. 
Variously coloured bed in- 
1 Horner 
stone 
terstratified with from 
1 Sotzka 
three to six nodule seams. 
f a. Semicrystalline limestone. 
J Sehiehten. 
Aquitanian 
Oligoccn . 
° e 
V 
Lower Coralline 
250 ft. 
• b. Non crystalline lime- 
Limestone. 
l stone. 
