296 RECENTLY DISCOVERED TERTIARY VERTEBRATA OF EGYPT. 



horizon is the Lower Miocene, fluvio-marine beds of this age at 

 Mogara, about 150 miles west of Cairo, and the Wadi Faregh, nearer 

 the Xile Valley, having yielded a number of interesting forms. Of 

 these, Brachyodus afrlcanus, an animal closely allied to Hyopotamus^ 

 bones of which are common in the Oligocene beds of the Isle of 

 Wight, was discovered in 1898 by Doctor Blanckenhorn, and seems 

 to be the first Tertiary land mammal recorded from Egypt. Later. 

 Mogara was visited by Mr. Beadnell and the late Mr. Barron, who 

 was accompanied by the present writer. Many specimens were col- 

 lected, including remains of a rhinoceros, and also of a probosci- 

 dean, closely allied to, if not identical with, Tetrahelodon angiistidens, 

 from beds of similar age in Europe. 



Although the mammals and other vertebrates found in the beds 

 above referred to are of considerable interest, they are only such as 

 might have been found in any European deposits of similar age, and 

 afford no clue to the real autochthonous mammalian fauna of the 

 Ethiopian region ; in fact, it is only in the Middle and Upper Eocene 

 beds of the Fayum that we find remains of animals that can be 

 regarded as representing that fauna. Considering the importance 

 of these fossils, it is proposed to give a brief account of their dis- 

 covery, of the locality in which they are found, and, finally, of the 

 more important forms represented in the collections which have been 

 made up to the present. 



The first remains of land mammals from this locality were collected 

 in 1901. In that year the present writer had the 2)rivilege of visiting 

 the district with Mr. Beadnell, of the Egjq^tian survey, who was 

 engaged in mapping this area. On this occasion remains of marine 

 animals, including a Sirenian (Eosiren) and large snakes {Gigan- 

 topMs and Ptcrosplienus) , were collected, accompanied by traces of an 

 ungulate, to which the name M oeritherium was afterwards given. 

 These seemed to be of such interest that a further visit was made, 

 resulting in the discovery of many ncAV forms, including Barytlierium 

 from the Middle Eocene, and Palceomastodon from the Upper Eocene. 

 Toward the end of the same j^ear Mr. Beadnell discovered remains 

 of an extraordinary ungulate, to which he gave the name Arsinoithe- 

 rium, and he also obtained portions of the skeleton of several other 

 new forms. Since then the locality has been visited on several occa- 

 sions by Mr. Beadnell on behalf of the Egyptian geological survey, 

 and by the writer for the British Museum. The large collections 

 made on these occasions have been described and figured in the 

 Catalogue of the Tertiary Vertebrata of the Fayum, published last 

 year. 



The Fayum is a province of Egypt lying about 60 miles south of 

 Cairo, to the west of the Nile Valley, from which it is separated by 

 a strip of desert traversed by a canal, through which practically the 



