The Extinct Animah of Egypt. 267 



six miles ; it is very shallow, the maximum depth at present being 

 about sixteen or seventeen feet, and its shores in most places are very 

 low and gently sloping. In Pleistocene times the floor of the 

 depression was occupied by a body of water of vastly greater area 

 than the present lake, evidences of its former extent being found in 

 the widely spread lacustrine deposits, chiefly clays, containing in 

 addition to numerous Mollusca, remains of Elephas africanus, 

 Hippopotamus, Btibalis, Cams, together with those of Crocodiles, 

 Chelonians, and Fishes. In one or two places also numerous stumps 

 of trees of considerable size occur, indicating that in some parts, at 

 least, in the neighbourhood of the water the country was wooded. 

 Later, within the historic period (2778 e.g.), the lake was converted 

 into an artificially controlled reservoir, Lake Moeris, and was 

 employed to regulate the supply of water in years of exceptionally 

 high and low Nile floods. At this date, though smaller than the 

 earlier Pleistocene lake, the water-covered area was far greater than 

 at the present time, indications of its former extent being found in 

 old shore-lines, still fringed with the stumps of tamarisk bushes, and 

 in the ruins of temples and cities. These remains are now separated 

 from the water by miles of desert. Later still, probably in Ptolemaic 

 times, the lake ceased to be used as a reservoir, and the quantity of 

 water admitted to the Fayum was limited, so far as possible, to the 

 amount actually required for the irrigation of the district. 



A page-size geological map, reproduced from Mr. H. J. L. 

 Beadneirs»Eeport on the Topography and Geology of the Fayum 

 Province (Survey Dept. Cairo, 1905), is added at p. vi of Dr. Andrews' 

 Introduction, on which report the geological sketch given by him is 

 mainly founded.^ 



With only one or two exceptions, the whole of the vertebrate 

 remains described in the present volume are derived from the 

 Middle and Upper Eocene deposits lying on the northern side of the 

 lake. The list comprises : — 



Mammalia. Eeptilia. _ 



Arsinoitherium, 2 species. Crocodilus, 3 species. 



Saghathermm, 4 species. Tomistoma, 3 species. 



Megalohyrax, 2 species. PsephopJionts eoc<enus. 



Mxritherium, 4 species. Testudo, 3 species. 



Palwomasiodon, 4 species. Thalassochelys lihjca. 



Phiomia serridens. Fodocnemis, 2 species. 



Barytherium grave. Stereogemjs, 2 species. 



Ancodon, 3 species. Gigantophis garstini. 



Phagatherium cegyptiacum. Fterosphenus schweinfurthi. 



Geniohyus, 3 species. Pisces. 



Posiren libyca. Fajumia schweinfurthi. 



Sycenodon sp. Socnopxea grandis. 



Pterodon africanus. Prist isfajumensis. 



Apterodon macrognathtis. Propristis schtvniifurthi. 



Sinopa ethiopiea. _ Popristis reinachi. 



Zeuglodon, 2 species. Aetohatis sp. 



Prozeuglodon atrox. Careharodon sp. 



Ayes. 



Premopezus eoccenus. 



1 See also " The Geology of the Faj-um Province of Eg\-pt " : Geol. Mag., 1905, 

 p. 516. 



