Correqwndence — Hugh J. L. Beadncll. 47 



necessitating entirely different conclusions to those arrived at by 

 earlier observers in the same field. 



Unfortunately, up to the present, the Egyptian Government has 

 not' been able to publish an}' maps or descriptions of the regions 

 surveyed, and even if, as proposed, publication is undertaken in the 

 coming year, a considerable time must necessainly elapse before the 

 accumulated results of three years can be brought out. 



In an abstract report in the Zeitsclirift fur praktlsche Geologie 

 for November, 1S99, of a paper entitled " Neues znr Geologie und 

 Paliiontologie Aegyptens," by Dr. Max Blanckenhorn, the following 

 statement occurs : — " Den von v. Zittel beschriebenen Cenoman- 

 vorkommen reihen sich zwei neue im eigentlichen Aegypten gelegene 

 und von Blanckenhorn gefundene an. Das erste liegt im O. des Nils 

 am Gebel Chebrewet ; das zvveite, westlich des Nils gelegene, ist das 

 der Oase Baharia mitten im Eociinplateau der Libj'schen Wiiste. 

 Das letztere weist auch in Limonit unigewandeltes Holz (Pahnoxylon) 

 und gut erhaltene Abdriicke von Dicotyledonenblattern in demselben 

 Versteinerungsmittel auf, ein vielversprechender Aufschluss liber die 

 Kreidet^ora Aegyptens."' 



As the copy of this abstract report was sent to this Survey by 

 Dr. Blanckeidiorn himself, I am forced to conclude that he claims to 

 have himself discovered the existence of rocks of Cenoraanian age in 

 Baharia Oasis, which as far as I know he has never A'isited, and can 

 only have derived his geological information from an examination of 

 my own specimens. 



In view of this, it is advisable to put on record some of the more 

 important conclusions at which I have arrived. They are briefly as 

 follows: — In 1897 the discover^' of the existence of extensive faults 

 along the west margin of the Nile Valley, and the absence of high 

 fluviatile deposits, pointed to the conclusion that the Nile gorge is 

 not a " valley of erosion," but probably a line of rift and faulting. 

 In 1899 similar fatilts were again found along the east side between 

 Assiut and Kena. 



A thick and extensive series of limestones, tufas, clays, sandstones, 

 and pebble-betls has been shown to occur throughout the Nile Valley, 

 from Esna to the Fayoum on the west side and from Kena to Minia 

 on the east, during work carried on between 1896 and 1899. 

 Although they are generally of fresh-water origin, Mr. Barron and J, 

 by the discovery of marine foraminifera in these beds near Luxor 

 in January, 1897, showed that mai'ine conditions existed far up the 

 Nile Valley in comparatively recent times, these beds being probably 

 of Pliocene age. In 1897 an extensive series of fossiliferous Cre- 

 taceous beds of Cenomanian to Danian age was discovered and 

 mapped in Baharia Oasis, and the junction of the Cretaceous and 



' To the occurrences of Cenoraanian rocks described by Zittel are added two new 

 ones, situated in Egy])t proper. The first lies on the east of the Nile at Gebel 

 Chebrewet ; the second, situated on the west of the iS'iki, is that of the Oasis of 

 Baharia in the midst of the Eocene phiteau of the Libyan Desert. The latter also 

 sliows wood {rahnoxijlon) converted into limonite, and well-preserved impressions of 

 Dicotyledonous leaves in the same matrix. This exposure promises to afford valuable 

 information as to the Chalk-rt(U-a of Egypt. 



