Dt\ A. Smith Woodward — The Bone-heds of Pikermi. 485 



marmornm was found in 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, 

 Mr. Frank Noel, of Achmet Aga in Northern Euboea, accompanied 

 Sir Edwin Egerton on one of his visits. He recognized 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 seemed to have 

 been lost and had never received any 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, sufficed to confirm Mr. Noel's impressions. The 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. Hipparion is again 

 the commonest fossil, and mingled with the complete bones are 

 splintered fragments. Land and fresh-water shells also occur in 

 great abundance, especially a species of Planorhis. 



Nearl}'^ 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 con- 

 dition further inwards. Among them could be recognized, besides 

 the innumerable remains of Hipparion, parts of a skull and tibia of 

 Bhinoceros, a frontlet of Gazella 6re«jcon«'s, jaws of a small ruminant, 

 a large ruminant metapodial (probably Samotheriiim), 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 Orijcteropus, 

 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 

 phenomenon. The two localities described are about 60 miles 

 apart, and seem to be situated in two distinct Tertiary basins 

 separated by a barrier of Cretaceous limestones and earlier rocks. 

 Whatever 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, within a comparatively short period. The 



1 For a brief account of the district see F. Teller, " Der Geologische Bau der Insel 

 Euboea" : Denk. k. Akad. Wiss., math.-naturw. CI., vol. xl (1880), pp. 156-160. 



