Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 26.djvu/609

 narrow vertical rent, varying in width from 3 to 5 inches, and. filled, as usual, with red earth and fragments of stone, which may be traced from the surface of the rock, traverses the sandstone quarry for a distance of 60 feet, and runs on, constantly increasing in depth, towards the south-south-west, in the direction of the Gandia fissure, with which it probably unites at a distance of less than a quarter of a mile. The expanded portion of the fissure in which the bones were found was in the shape of half a barrel cut through the ' flat ends ; and it measured from 2 to 3 feet in width, 10 feet in length, and a little more than 6 feet in depth. It was covered by a large block of sandstone. The sides of the fissure were, as usual, perfectly smooth. It had no stalagmitic floor.

The fissure was filled with a compact deposit of red earth, with fragments of limestone, containing throughout teeth and fragments of bones of fossil elephants, associated with bones of large birds, as in the Gandia fissure; but no shells were observed. A tooth, which the author supposed to be that of a Hippopotamus, was also obtained*. The author also met with three small fish-teeth.

The remains of Elephants obtained from this fissure consist chiefly of fragments of the long bones. Several of the Elephants' teeth were entire, and they were generally rather better preserved than those discovered in the Gandia fissure. A fragment of a tusk, 21 inches in length, was obtained ; the greatest circumference of this was 17 inches, or 2 inches more than the specimen found by Dr. A. Leith Adams at Tal-Maghlak.

This fissure at Is-Shantiin is said by the author to raise the number of localities in Malta in which Elephant-remains have been found in abundance to five, namely : — the cave at Casal Zebbug, discovered in 1859 by Capt. Spratt ; two caves at Tal-Maghlak, in Casal Krendi, discovered by Dr. A. Leith Adams in 1861 ; the Gandia fissure, within the limits of Casal Micabibba and Casal Siggeni, excavated in 1865 by Dr. Adams and the author ; and the Is-Shantiin fissure at the entrance to Casal Micabibba. These localities are all in the denuded district of the eastern half of the island ; and in this direction there is abundant evidence of the existence of many similar ossiferous fissures. From the mode of occurrence of these bones the author infers that, at the time of their deposition where we now find them, that part of the island was exposed to the impetuous wash of continuous and rapid currents of fresh water. The remains already found indicate the existence of three species of Elephants, two or more species of Hippopotamus, one species of gigantic Dormouse and other large extinct animals, which must have wandered over the island in large numbers, probably associated with Carnivora, of which, however, no remains have been discovered in Malta, although the author has found a portion of the lower jaw of Hyoena in the island of Gozo. He considered that the area of the island was wholly inadequate for the shelter and support of so many large mammals, and, considering their affinity to African species, and certain hydrographical conditions noticed by Capt. Spratt, he inferred that, at the


 * See Dr. Adams's note at the end of this paper.