Dr. W. F. Hume — Miocene Roclcs in Eastern Sinai. 251 



writer was surprised to find beds of large oysters in the terraces 

 a few kilometres south of Sherm, at the foot of a marked transverse 

 range, the Jebel Zafara, these being especially marked in Wadi 

 Khoraiyah. On comparing these with the oysters from the Miocene 

 west of the Suez Gulf, there seemed little doubt that the species 

 were identical, but to fully establish the point the specimens were 

 submitted to Dr. Blanckenhorn, who has recognized the oysters 

 of Wadi Khoraiyah as Ostrea Virleti, Desh., and typical Ostrea 

 gingensis, var. setensis, Blanck., while Ostrea Virleti was further 

 recorded from a limestone above brown sands between Nebk and 

 Sherm. The latter was evidently derived from the older Miocener 

 series, but is now associated with Pleistocene fossils. 



In a paper on the geology of Eastern Sinai (International Geoh- 

 Congress, Paris, 1901) the writer called special attention to tha 

 existence of certain highly tilted beds occurring at the southern end 

 of the peninsula, in most cases standing well back from the sea and 

 having undergone extreme alteration. South of Jebel Zafara these 

 are well developed, forming a series of yellow hills close to the 

 junction of the igneous rocks, and rising nearly 200 metres above 

 the sea. Here the beds have been tilted to an extraordinary extent, 

 in some cases dipping from 30° to 60° E., and being apparently 

 connected with a longitudinal fault of importance. In the paper 

 above-mentioned it was further pointed out that their appearance 

 recalled the altered coral-reefs of this region, and that they still 

 contained oysters and casts of Fecten, but their age was not then 

 definitely stated. The identification of the oysters of Khoraiyah leaves 

 little doubt, however, that these beds also are of Miocene age, and w© 

 therefore arrive at the conclusion that the Older Tilted Reefs at the 

 southern end of the Gulf of Ahaha are Miocene in age and agree 

 with those on the western side of the Gulf of Suez. Dr. Blanckenhorn 

 has made some observations in sending the specimens which it may 

 be of interest to quote here. " It is to be assumed that Lithodomufs- 

 (Botula) cinnamomea, Gastrochmia Betzi, oysters of the crassissima- 

 gingensis group, Lucina sp. aif. tigrina, and corals like Cyphastr^ea 

 chalcidicum, etc., persisted from Miocene to Pleistocene times in the 

 Erythrgean region in a salt ' Binnensee ' situated somewhere in the 

 deepest part of the Gulf of Suez. In the Upper Pliocene there was 

 the second invasion of Mediterranean forms into the Erythraean 

 region. At this point there came in Fecten varius, Fecten henedictm; 

 Cerithium conicum, Ostrea cucullata and plicatida, Area lactea, etc. 

 Possibly in the neighbourhood of Sinai there may be a place 

 which still contains remains of this more continental transition 

 period between the Middle Miocene (Helvetian) and the Upper 

 Pliocene. Might the No. 4798 [this is the above-mentioned Ostrea 

 gingengis, var. setensis, of Wadi Khoraiyah] be included here?" 



Having seen the deposits from both the Eastern Desert of Egypt 

 and Eastern Sinai, it seems to me impossible to separate the two, 

 and if the former are Helvetian the latter must also be of the same 

 age, so that the conclusion is forced on us that the Gulf of Akaba 

 (at least in part) was already occupied by the sea at this early 



