THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED TERTIARY 

 VERTEBRATA OF EGYPT 



By C. W. ANDREWS, D.Sc, F.R.S. 



British Museum {Natural History) 



As in most branches of science, the growth of our knowledge of 

 the fossil vertebrates of the world takes place, as a rule, by 

 the slow accumulation of isolated facts ; but occasionally some 

 fortunate discovery not only leads to the bridging over of long 

 recognised gaps, but also throws much light on points the 

 significance of which was previously obscure. The discovery 

 that the remains of vertebrates are comparatively common at 

 several horizons in the Tertiary formations of Egypt was such 

 a happy chance, and has resulted in the solution of several long- 

 outstanding problems. 



Until within the last few years the palaeontological history 

 of Africa, so far at least as the mammalia were concerned, was 

 an almost complete blank. It is true that so long ago as 1875 

 Owen described the occurrence of a primitive Sirenian in the 

 Middle Eocene of the Mokattam Hills, near Cairo, and a few 

 years later Schweinfurth discovered bones of Zeuglodonts in 

 the Middle Eocene deposits of the Fayum ; but in both instances 

 the animals in question are of aquatic habits, and therefore 

 threw no light on the mammalian fauna of the Ethiopian land- 

 mass that must have existed throughout Tertiary, and probably 

 also Secondary, times. 



The highest horizon in the Egyptian Tertiary beds at which 

 vertebrate remains are found is the Middle Pliocene, beds of 

 this age occurring in the Wadi Natrun, a depression in the 

 Libyan desert some sixty miles from Cairo. From this locality 

 collections have been made by Captain Lyons and Mr. Beadnell, 

 and also by Drs. Stromer and Blanckenhorn. They have been 

 described by Dr. Stromer and the present writer. The chief 

 mammals recorded are Hipparion, Hippopotamus, Libytherium or 

 Samotherium, and Mastodon, as well as carnivora, including a 



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