Prof. J. W. Gregory — Fossil Corals from Egypt, etc. 51 



(1) The Cretaceous limestones of Abu Eoash. 



(2) A series of Pleistocene reefs on both shores of the Gulf of 



Suez, of which the corals have solely Red Sea affinities, 

 and show no greater trace of the influence of intermixture 

 with the Mediterranean fauna than is shown by the living 

 corals of the Red Sea. 



(3) A series of older corals, which show somo points of re- 



semblance to the existing Red Sea coral fauna, but are 



decidedly of pre-Pleistocene age ; but as the sections of 



some of these corals were not ready when my preliminary 



report was closed, I could not express a final conclusion as 



to whether they were of Miocene or Pliocene age. 



The completion of this report was sadly delayed, owing to the 



heavy pressure of work in Australia ; and I am very grateful to 



Captain Lyons, the Director of the Egyptian Survey, for the 



consideration with which he has allowed me to retain the material 



for so long. 



The full examination of the material, with the aid of sections, 

 confirms the opinion formed from my preliminary inspection. 

 The bulk of the material is of Pleistocene, and apparently late 

 Pleistocene age. This conclusion is in agreement with Mr. R. B. 

 Newton's long list of fossil mollusca from the same localities. 

 The specimens from Jebel Mellaha, and most of those from Abu 

 Sha'ai', are Miocene ; but one specimen reported as from Abu Sha'ar 

 appears indistinguishable from a living variety of a Red Sea species 

 — Acanihastrcea Jiirsuta, var. meg alo stoma, Klunz. This specimen 

 was the first from Abu Sha'ar which I had examined, and thus 

 I was first led to the view that the limestones of that locality were 

 Pleistocene. But when sections of the other specimens from that 

 locality were available, they all proved to be of Miocene age. 

 Either this one species has an abnormally long life or there is some 

 error in the localization of the specimen. 



The Miocene coral fauna resembles that of the Miocene of the 

 Mediterranean and of Sind, and it lacks several of the commonest of 

 the modern genera of Red Sea cox'als, e.g. Madrepora and Stylophora. 

 The geology of the area is described in Messrs. Hume & 

 Barron's valuable memoir, "Topography and Geology of the Eastern 

 Desert of Egypt " (Cairo, 1902). 



A previous collection was described in the Geol. Mag., Dec. IV, 

 Vol. V, 1898, pp. 241-251, Pis. VIII and IX. 



I. CRETACEOUS. 



Smilotrochus (?) sp. 



There is one specimen (No. 3795) from the eastern end of the 

 Abu Roash village, which appears to me to belong to this genus, 

 but I cannot recognize the septal structure, as the specimen has 

 been so greatly altered ; the chances that a thin slice would show 

 the internal characters do not seem to me to justify the injury that 

 would be caused to the specimen. It is figured (PI. VI, Fig. 1) in 

 the hope of the discovei'y of fresh material. 



