THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
255 
“ Oblunga, incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium 
carinae sunt. ” 
The decline of Phoenicia dates from the esta- 
blishment of the Persian Empire in the sixth 
century b.c., and after the capture of Tyre by Ale- 
xander its commerce gradually passed into the 
hands of the Greeks. 
On the Occurence of a Black Limestone 
in the Strata of the Maltese Xslp/nds. 
By John EL. Cooke, F.G.S., etc. 
While engaged in the examination of the super- 
ficial deposits of the Maltese Islands, I have often 
met with rounded pebbles and angular fragments 
of a black, crystalline limestone, either lying on 
on the rock surfaces, or embedded in the Qua- 
ternary formations. 
The late Professor Leith Adams drew attention 
to the same fact as long ago as 1867, and in a 
paper which was published in the Quart. Journ. 
Geol. Soc he expressed an opinion that the frag- 
ments which he had seen lying on the surfaces of 
the sides and summits of the Gozitan Hills, be- 
longed to a formation that was of a much later 
age than any of the rocks that are now to be found 
in situ in the islands (1). 
Dr. John Murray, too, notes in his brochure (2) 
on the Maltese Islands the occurrence of similar 
fragments in the neighbourhood of Marsa Scirocco, 
and he further adds that no evidences of the rock 
having been found in situ in the island had hitherto 
been recorded. The remarks of these gentlemen 
led me to consider the matter attentively, and I 
have, during the last year, been carrying on in- 
vestigations with the object of discovering the 
origin of the black marble, the result of which has 
been to show that it is but a variety of the Lower 
(1) Dr. Adams says, “ Indications of more recent 
beds are seen in the blocks of weathered limestone 
known as Gozo marble which are seen strewing the 
valley eastward, of the lighthouse on the northern 
shore, and in fragments of a black limestone or 
marble which strew the sides and summits of the 
Gozo Hills. There can, I believe, be no doubt that 
these Judgments have no connexion whatever with 
any of the recent formations in the islands 
(Z) “ The Maltese Islands, with special reference 
to their Geological Structure Scottish Geol. Mag. 
September, 1890, 
Coralline Limestone the basement bed of the 
Maltese series, and that it occurs extensively 
in situ in that formation. In the eastern and 
south-eastern parts of Malta considerable quan- 
tities of rounded boulders and angular fragments 
of black limestone, that vary in size from a walnut 
to a medium-sized pumpkin occur in the beds of 
the gorges, in the soil of the fields, and in all those 
localities where the Giobigerina limestone has 
been eroded away, and the underlying basement 
rock has been exposed to view. 
In the Quaternary strata, too, of both Malta 
and Gozo these fragments are especially numerous 
The elephant bed in the Benhisa Creek at the 
south-eastern extremity of Malta affords a charac- 
teristic example of their mode of occurrence in the 
diluvial beds of the island. 
In this bed large water-worn boulders, having, 
when broken, a jet-black lustre, occur at different 
depths intermixed with boulders and fragments of 
other colours, eighty per cent, of which are at 
once recognizable as having been derived from the 
formation out of which the creek has been formed. 
They generally lie with their longer axes in a 
horizontal direction, forming well-defined layers 
of several feet in thickness, alternating with beds 
of a rich, red soil, containing the remains of several 
extinct species of elephants. 
It was to this part of the island that I first 
directed by attention in my search for the origin 
of the bed from whence these boulders and pebbles 
had been derived, as, owing to the great amount 
of denudation to which the country around had 
been subjected, the whole of the beds, that had 
formerly overlain the basement rock, had been 
completely swept away, and the Lower Coralline 
Limestone had been laid bare over an area of 
several square miles in extent. The first evidence 
of the black limestone occurring in situ appeared 
on the road between Beuhisa and Uied el Mista. 
The exact spot is situated directly opposite to II 
Mara, at a distance of about 400 yards from the 
sea cliffs, ft consists of a patch of black crystal- 
line marble, which is similar in every respect to 
the limestone of which the boulders and pebbles 
arc composed. The patch extends half-way across 
the road|fand on the off side a cart-rut has been 
formed in it to a depth of eight inches. It occurs 
in division 6 of the Lower Coralline Limestone, 
