OCT 1 1900 



THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE IV. VOL. VI. 



No. XL— NOVEMBER, 1899. 



A 



I. — Fossil Mammalia from Egypt. 



By Chas. "W. Andrews, B.Sc, F.G.S., British Museum (Nat. Hist.). 



(PLATE XXIII.) 



CONSIDERABLE collection of mammalian bones obtained by 

 the officers of the Egyptian Geological Survey, and sent to 

 England by Captain H. Lyons for determination, proves to contain 

 a number of specimens of great interest. The remains unfortunately 

 are, for the most part, very fragmentary and in many cases quite 

 indeterminable, but they are still sufficient to indicate the existence 

 in Northern Egypt of several distinct mammalian faunas, the oldest 

 being of Lower Miocene age, the most recent probably late Pleisto- 

 cene and including species now living in the Nile Valley. As far 

 as I am aware, the occurrence of Lower Miocene land mammals in 

 Africa has not been recorded before, and it is to be hoped that 

 continued search may lead to further discoveries, which cannot fail 

 to throw much light on some obscure questions of geographical 

 distribution. 



In describing the specimens received hitherto it will be convenient 

 to begin with the older forms and then pass on to the later. 



Mammals from the Lower Miocene {Bardighalien). 



The principal locality in which mammalian remains of this age 

 have been obtained is Moghara, which lies in the desert rather 

 more than a hundred miles nearly due west of Cairo. Most of the 

 specimens were collected by i)r. M. Blanckenhorn, who, in a letter 

 accompanying the specimens, has given a brief description of the 

 deposits in which they were found. From this it appears that the 

 beds form a series of alternating marine, fluviatile, and lacustrine 

 deposits, some 200 metres thick ; there is much sand and gravel, 

 containing great silicified tree trunks as well as the remains of 

 mammals and reptiles. Above or intercalated in these deposits, 

 there is a bed of ochreous sandy marl containing characteristic 

 Lower Miocene Echinoids and Molluscs. There are also some beds 

 of Hydrobia limestone. 



DECADE IV. TOL. YI. NO. XI. 31 



