30 Reports and Proceedings. 



flint shingle alternating with these Coralline limestones. The author 

 considered that a great physical break ensued between the Eocene 

 and Miocene period, while a gradual transition occurred between the 

 Cretaceous and Eocene rocks. 



In the Gypseous series which overlies the flint conglomerate 

 several peculiar effects were noted, owing to the easy manner in 

 which tumbled and broken masses of gypsum are reconstructed by 

 partial solution and recrystallization when they have been removed 

 from their original position by the slipping of the underlying shales. 



The alluvial gravels of the Sinaitic valleys are generally similar 

 in containing a coarser and a finer material ; the latter is the older, 

 and has apparently been deposited by comparatively slowly-flowing 

 streams. In conclusion, the author called attention to the evidence 

 of lakes, marshes, and streams having formerly occupied what are 

 now dry barren valleys. 



Discussion. — Mr. G-wyn Jeffreys corroborated the opinion of the 

 author, that there had been at one time permanent marshy lands 

 where the Lymncea truncatula and a species of Pisidium had been found. 



Mr. D. Forbes inquired the age of the schists and porphyries of 

 Om Eiglaine, and as to the character of the granite. 



Sir E. I. Murchison inquired the probable age of the masses of 

 gypseous rocks, and commented on the extremely wide range of the 

 Nummulitic strata. 



Dr. Duncan observed that the Cretaceous fossils, as had been 

 observed by both M. Louis Lartet and hiuaself, belonged to the 

 Upper Greensand formation. He considered that the author had 

 proved that the Eed Sandstone was not, as suggested by M. L. 

 Lartet, Neocomian, but either Triassic or Permian. Fossils of the 

 Upper Chalk with flints he found to be absent. He had found that, 

 out of 25 Cretaceous species, 13 had been described by M. Coquand 

 from Kabylia and Egypt, while 8 were European forms. 



Mr. Etheridge considered the fossils from the sandstone to belong 

 to the Trias, especially from the presence of Encrinus moniliformis. 



Prof. T. Eupert Jones reported the Nummulites as of the com- 

 mon typical form found in Egypt — the N. GMzensis. With a variety 

 of this form occur some others. If the Nummulitic rocks were 

 overlain by the soft white friable limestone, this latter, like similar beds 

 in Scinde, would be of later date, though similar in lithological character. 



Mr. W. W. Smyth had found in Nubia, above the Catacombs, Eed 

 Sandstones overlain by limestone and Nummulitic beds. If the Eed 

 Sandstone, as seems probable from the fossils discovered by Mr. 

 Bauerman, were proved to be Triassic, a great point in the geology 

 of Sinai and the East had been gained. 



Mr. Boyd Dawkins inquired as to the evidence of the mines 

 having been worked by the Egyptians. 



Mr. Evans was not satisfied that the flint flakes had been used in 

 the manner suggested, as they would be liable to break off in the 

 socket, and the hammers would not be worn away in the manner 

 they exhibited by mere impact on wood. 



The President commented on the similarity of the faunas. of India 



