OF WESTERN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN COASTS. 955 
But the caves which more especially bear upon this inquiry are those in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Palermo that are connected with an ossiferous breccia of a very 
remarkable and unique character, and which we must therefore describe at g-reater 
length. This breccia has been associated with the breccia of the ordinary older bone 
caves, but, though occurring in front and close to such caves, I think the association 
accidental, and that the two are independent. Without this disconnection its origin 
appears unintelligible. 
Palermo stands in a plain, encircled, at a distance of about 2 to 4 miles, by an 
amphitheatre of hills from 2000 to 3000 feet high (fig. 21). Pliocene strata rise very 
gradually from the shore to the height of about 200 feet, when they abut against highly 
inclined limestone strata of Cretaceous and Jurassic age, which present a precipitous 
front towards the plain, while in places a thick accumulation of limestone breccia 
lies at their base. 
There are several caves in the limestone escarpment a little above the line of junc¬ 
tion with the Pliocene plain, but the one which most particularly claims attention, 
from the extraordinary quantity of Hi^'popotamus hones found in connection with it, 
is that of San Giro, or Mardolce, situated about 2 miles to the south-east of Palermo, 
at the foot of Monte Grifone. This cave is 130 feet long, 10 feet AVide at the 
entrance, 30 feet in centre, and 21 feet high, measured from the surface of the cave 
deposits. It is situated near the base of the escarpment, with ground sloping from 
its entrance down to the church of San Giro, a distance of 266 feet (see fig. 19). But 
the breccia extends apparently beyond this. The cave Avas described by the Abbate 
D. SciNA* * * § in 1830, and by Dr. Turnbull Ghristie in 1831.t It was visited after¬ 
wards by Dr. Falconer, who included it in his description of the Maccagnone Gave.| 
Owing to the Avay in which the caAm deposits inside and out had been ransacked for 
bones, first by the peasants and aftei’Avards by order, no systematic exploration was 
then possible. 
When first discovered many hundred quintals of bones were dug out by the 
peasants. According to Scina the breccia was crammed with hones, so fresh that 
they were cut into ornaments and polished, and that when burnt they gave out 
ammoniacal vapours. The quantity, hoAvever, Avas so great, that when afteinvards 
exploited for commercial purposes, 20 tons were shipped in the first six months to 
Marseilles and England, where It is said they were used for the manufacture of lamp 
black§; if this Avere the case they could have lost very little of their animal matter. 
The bones Avere mostly those of Hippopotami, with a feAv only of Deer, Ox, and 
Elephant. In a weight of nearly \ \ tons, all except six were bones of tAAm species of 
* ‘Rapporto snlle Ossa Fossili di Mardolce,’ Palermo, 1831. 
t “ On the Newer Deposits of Sicily.” ‘ Phil. Mag.’ for October, 1831, p. 1. 
+ ‘ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,’ vol. 16, p. 99, 1860; and ‘ Palaeontological Memoirs,’ vol. 2, p. 543, 1868. 
§ Or more probably of animal charcoal for the sugar factories. In the I’ubble-drift at Chilton, near 
Oxford, the bones likewise retained a large proportion (above 17 per cent.) of animal matter. 
6 F 2 
