GIANTS AND PIGMIES. 



33 



are roprosented in the Suez Canal collection. 1. By " a 

 characteristic specimen composed of quartz, fehlspar ami mica, 

 showing in a separate form the constituents of granite : from 

 the left side of the Nile opposite the Tslc of Philoe." Granites 

 of Assouan and Philoe, red and grey, 7 specimens. In 

 addition are pieces of Pompey's Pillar of the statue of Rhamses 

 in the valley of Gassen (Goshen), of a monument of Persepolis, 

 of the obelisk of Luxor now in the Place do la Concorde, 

 Paris. 2. Ainpliibole (Hornblendic rock), from a bed of the 

 first catanict which extends across the cataract from Assouan 

 toths Isle of Piiiloe, 2 specimens of the Amphibole, which dips 

 into tho Nile at vhe entrance of the port of Assouan, 3. 

 Porithyry, from the quarries of Assouan (Temple of Dendereh) 

 and the bed of the first cataract. The extent of the quarries 

 must be very great to have produced the building stones of the 

 numerous and great buildings, the monoliths of the great 

 monuments and the blocks for the colossal sculptures. The 

 next geological formation to which our director introduces is 

 the Cretaceous. He takes us to Mokattam which we have 

 alri'ady signalized by its nnmmulites. He characterizes it as 

 "calcaires crayeux.". In it he finds a "fossil crab." The 

 valley of Gessen (Goshen) is another locality where this 

 formation is pointed out as chalk marl. It appears to coalesce 

 with the succeeding, Eocene. Bauerman expresses the opinion 

 that there is no marked division betwec n the two, (Cretaceous 

 and Eocene.) 



A collection from Mount Lebanon in Palestine, presented 

 to the Museum S(mie years ago by Dr. McHattie, now of 

 Antigua, points out this as also a locality. This collection 

 consists of crimidea (St. Cuthbert's Beads) and numerous 

 spines of the Echinus (sea urchin) Cidaris olkmformis^ so 

 called from the form of its spines, and a Scajdntc. In our 

 collections froiii the chalk of England, we have an allied cidaris 

 with club-shaped spines approximating to olive-forms. The 

 geological sequence here represented is certainly very irregular. 

 The •' Break in succession " is enormous. Between the Archaean 

 and the Cretaceous, there should intervene, in order to com- 

 plete the succession, all the formations that have been referred 

 3 





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