The mediterranean naturalist 
by some other intiuence, the whole surface of 
the body would become extremely hot. 
To complete the explanation lie takes into 
into consideration what is known of black- 
. skinned men. When he was in India he ob- 
served that natives, although they drank water 
freely, do not appear to perspire so copiously 
as Europeans, but this apparent absence of 
perspiration is owing to the freer exudation 
of invisible moisture in the form of vapour. 
Sweat-drops are not seen on the skin, but an 
enormous quantity is constantly evaporating and 
the moisture exuding from the skin, there is a 
demand for heat for greater than an ordinary 
observer would imagine; and by it can be dis- 
posed of all the surplus heat which the black 
skin absorbs over and above what it gives off 
by radiation. This fact, so ably dwelt upon 
by Mr. Wallace, is realised by few, that the 
amount of water is small indeed which, by 
being evaporated, could transform into its latent 
condition all the heat derived from the warm 
ing influences, of the sun in the hottest climates: 
The Marls and Clays of the Maltese 
Islands. 
By J. H. Cooke, Esq., B.Sc., F.G.S. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In the year 1843 the late Admiral Spratt pub- 
lished a brief notice on the above subject, and a 
few years afterwards the late Prof. Gulia and Capt. 
Hutton (1) alluded to the Marls and Clays in their 
sketches of Maltese geology. The late Prof. Leith 
Adams published in 1870 a short account of them 
in his ‘Notes of a Naturalist,’ but the amount of 
information that he gives as to the nature of the 
beds and of their fossil contents is neither very 
extensive nor very exact. In 1874 the Islands were 
v i sited by Thos. Fuchs, of the Imperial Geological 
Musei lm of Vienna, and by him the first attempt 
was made to correlate the Maltese formations 
with those of Central Europe. In the first of 
his two pamphlets on the subject he tells us 
that he was inclined to consider the Maltese 
Marls as being analogous to the ‘Badner Tegel’ 
of the Vienna Basin; but two years later, 
(I ) See (Jeol . Mar/, for 18G0, pp. lJfj-151, pis, 
VII f & IX. 
after having examined the marls of Bologna and 
compared their fossil contents with those of the 
Maltese beds, he changed his opinion and referred 
them to the Austrian Schlier. In 1889-90 Dr. J. 
Murray, of Edinburgh, visited the Islands; and 
in the paper <2) which was published on his return 
to Scotland he gave the first detailed account 
of the nature and constitution of the Maltese rocks, 
that had so far appeared His descriptions were, 
however, exclusively I ithological; and, excepting the 
list of 122 species of foramin if era which is append- 
ed to the report on the Maltese Marls, no infor- 
mation is given either as to the stratigraphy or 
palaeontology of this particular information. 
Before Dr. Murray’s arrival I had already devo- 
ted a considerable amount of attention to the 
Marls and Clays ; and owing to the kind encou- 
ragement which I received from him I continued 
ray investigations after his departure, with the 
result that I have been able to add largely to our 
knowledge of the fossil fauna and to gather toge- 
ther a number of important facts bearing on the 
geological history of the Maltese Islands. I am 
under great obligations to Prof. Capellini and Dr. 
Simonelli for the interest they have shown in my 
work and for the valuable assistance they have 
rendered me in determining the organic remains 
found in the strata. 
The following is a chronological list of the 
published notices and memoirs having reference 
tc this subject: — 
1843. Spratt, T. ‘On the Geology of the Maltese 
Islands.’ l’roc. Geol. Soc. vol. IV. p. 225. 
LsOO. Gulia, G. ‘Geologist’ (Notes and Queries) 
for 1860, p. 421. 
1804. Adams, A. L. ‘Outline of the Geology of 
the Maltese Islands.’ Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, 
■aer. 3, vol. XIV, p. 1. 
1800. Pulton, F. W. ‘Sketch of the Physical 
Geoiogy of the Island of Malta.’ Geol. Mag. for 
I860, p. 145. 
1870. Adams, A. L. ‘Notes of a Naturalist in the 
Nile Valley and Malta.’ Eclinlurgh. 
1874. Fuchs, Th. Das Alter der Tertiarschichten 
von Malta.’ Sitzungsber. d. k. k. Akad. der 
Wissensch. Wien, vol. LXX. p. 92. 
(.!) The Maltese Islands, with special reference 
to their Geological Structure Scot. Geogr. Mag. 
vol. VI. (1800) p. Iftfi. 
