Tie Mediterranean Moralist. 
H noontbl^ Review of Natural Science* 
Yol. II., No. 18. MALTA, NOVEMBER 1st. 1892. 
CONTENTS. 
— «•« — Pag. 
1 On the Occurenco of Ursits arctos in the Malta 
Pleistocene— John H. Cooke, F.G.S., etc. 267 
2 The Silkworm industry in Malta 269 
3 Mantidse 269 
4 An under-valued product 271 
5 Insects, a Biscuits— Surg. Capt. LouisHughes.A.M.S. 271 
6 Armenia— Prof. Minasse Tcheraz 272 
7 The Relationship of the structure of rocks to the 
conditions of their formation— H. J. Johnston 
Lavis, M.D..F.G.S. 273 
8 Albinism and Colour variation in Maltese Wild 
Flowers— A. Caruana Gatto. A.B., LL.D. 276 
9 Exploration in the Black Sea 277 
10 On the Vine & Potatoe disease in Malta— J. H. C. 278 
11 A year’s insect hunting at Gibraltar — J. J. Walker, 
R.N.,F.G.S. ' 279 
12 Notes and News:— Insect pest— Hybrid fruit— Erup- 
tion of Etna— Progress of Cholera— Wonders of 
Photography — A common error— Colors of ani- 
mals— Fish in the Volga— Our Full, etc. etc. 281 
NOTICES, 
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'18 
On the Occurrence of Ursus 
arctos in the Malta Pleistocene. 
By John H. Cooke, E.G.S., etc. 
Tlie labours of the late Admiral Spratt, R.N., and 
of the Late Professor Leith Adams, F.R.S., in the 
cavern deposits of the Maltese Islands were re- 
warded by the finding of a unique and interesting 
land fauna, among which, were Elephants, Hippo- 
potami, land Tortoises, gigantic Dormice, and 
aquatic Birds, the presence of which in so limited 
an area was incompatible with the present existing 
physical conditions of the Islands. While carrying 
on his work of investigation in a cave in the 
Zebbug Gorge, Uied-il-Kbir, in 1859, Spratt 
noticed that many of the remains of Elephants 
that were exhumed presented the appearance of 
having been fiercely gnawed, (j) and later on when 
Adams was excavating the Mnaidra gap it was 
observed that many of the elephantine remains 
were in a similar condition. 
From the situations in which the remains were 
found, and their condition, these gentlemen in- 
ferred that carnivorae had lived in the district 
contemporaneously with the hippopotami; but 
notwithstanding the most diligent research ex- 
tending over a period of twenty years, the only 
tangible evidences in support of their inferences 
were these gnawed bones. (2) 
(1) Proc. Geo. Sac. vol. XXIII , p. 288. 
(2) In a collection of fossils sent by Capt. Spratt 
to Dr. Falconer a small canine .of a carnivorous 
animal of the size of a fox was joresent. 
Referring to this subject the la.te eminent paleon- 
tologist Dr. Falconer in a latter to the late Prof. 
Leith Adams said. “ Of the pigmy elephants , I 
have remains derived from at least twenty indivi- 
duals, and. the entire dentition of every stage from 
the fastal age upwards , not a single link was 
missing. 
What struck me most , and induced me to defer 
the detailed account so long , was the absence of 
large carnivora: in the collection. Many of the bones 
were fiercely gnawed and. splintered , certa inly by 
la rge carnivorae, but the species I never determined. 
