TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION f!. G59 



and a large proportion of the bone fragments discovered between and below tlie 

 bone-beds are recognisable as pieces of them. It is noteworthy that a good 

 specimen of Testudo mannovum was found iu the marl between the upper and 

 lower bone-beds in one pit ; and a small undetermined snake was discovered in 

 a similar position in another pit. 



While the excavation of these fossils was in progress at Pikermi, J\[i'. Frank Noel, 

 of Achmet Aga in Northern Eubcea, accompanied Sir J'^dwin Egerton on one of 

 his visits. He recognised that the Pikermi marls were similar to some containing 

 fossil bones on his own estate. He also perceived the identity of the remains of 

 Hipparion at Pikermi with the commonest fossil bones with which he was familiar 

 at Achmet Aga. Many years ago he had sent some of these bones to the Athens 

 Museum, but they seem to have been lost and had never received anj' attention 

 from the Greek naturalists. He therefore invited the British Museum to examine 

 the discovery on his estate and decide whether or not the extinct Pikermi fauna 

 was there represented. 



A brief visit to the locality where the bones occur, near Achmet Aga, sulTlced 

 to confirm Mr. Noel's anticipations. Tlie interesting spot is in a deep ravine on the 

 steep slope just below the village of Drazi at an elevation of nearly 200 metres 

 above the sea level. The torrent has cut through a thick deposit of red indurated 

 marl much like that of Pikermi, and bones are noticeable in the section at many 

 points. Three days' digging at one place revealed two bone-beds separated by a 

 thin layer of marl. The bones .seem to be as abundant and varied as those at 

 Pikermi, and they exhibit exactly the same features. Hippanoii is again the 

 commonest fossil, and mingled witli the complete bones are splintered fragment.^ 

 Land and fresh-water shells also occur in great abundance, especially a species ol 

 Planorbis. 



Nearly all the bones discovered during this brief visit were too rotten for 

 preservation ; but the weathered face of the section alone was explored, and the 

 fossils would doubtless be found in good condition further inwards. Among them 

 could be recognised, besides the innumerable remains of Hijjparion, parts of a 

 .skull and tibia of Rhinoceros, a frontlet of Gazella brevicovnis, jaws of a small 

 ruminant, a large ruminant metapodial (probably Samotherhim), part of a skull 

 and mandible of Ictitherium, and some small carnivore vertebrae. There was also 

 part of the skull of a small species of Orijcteropius, which I was able to preserve 

 and bring for comparison with the skull of the same genus from Samos now in the 

 British Museum. 



From these observations it is evident that the Pikermi bone-beds are not merely 

 a local accident, but are due to some widespread phenomena. The two localities 

 described are about sixty miles apart, and seem to be situated iu two distinct Tertiary 

 basins separated by a barrier of Cretaceous limestones and earlier rocks. What- 

 ever the catastrophe may have been by which the animals were suddenly 

 destroyed, it clearly happened in both places at least twice if not three times 

 withm a comparatively short period. Tlie powerful force which broke up and 

 transported the bodies before they had completely decomposed was probably the 

 same in each case ; while the final resting place of the bones both at Pikermi and 

 Drazi must have been beneath comparatively tranquil water where they could be 

 quickly buried in mud. The absence of all trace of vegetable matter is curious ; 

 but the most plausible explanation of the broken limbs and torn portions of trunks 

 seems to be that the bodies were hurried by torrential floods through thickets or 

 tree-obstructed watercourses before they reached the lakes in which they finally 

 rested. Accompanying stones in rapid motion may account for .some of the bone- 

 fragments. 



2. The Fayum Depression : A Preliminary Notice of the Geology of a 

 District in Ec/ypt containing a New Pald'ogene. Vertebrate Fauna. 

 By Hugh J. L. Beadnkll, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., of the Geological Survey 

 of Egypt. 



The Fayum is a large circular depression iu the Libyan De.sert, some fifty 

 miles .south-west of Cairo. The lower part— an area of some 1,.500 square 



