Notes of a Geological Reconnaissance in Arabia Petraa. 75 



sidered the fasciolo to be an appendage to several generic groups 

 which were distinctly separated by other structural distinctions. 

 The result of an examination of the Nummulitic Brejpiice in the 

 Society's collection satisfied Dr. Duncan that there were only race 

 characters separating them from Breynia Austrahensis — a recent 

 Echinoderm. The persistence of these species, widely distributed 

 and of great geological age, was very remarkable. 



December 9th, 1868.— Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL.D., E.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



The following communication was read : — 



" Notes of a Geological Reconnaissance in Arabia Petraea." By 

 H. Bauerman, Esq., E.G.S. 



The district to which this paper referred is that between Suez 

 and the lower part of Wady Eerran in the peninsula of Arabia 

 Petraea, and includes the copper and turquoise mines worked by the 

 ancient Egyptians. The rocks within this area were classified as 

 follows : — 



1. Gneiss and granites, forming the central chain of Sinai and the base of all 

 the stratified deposits. 



2. Red Sandstone series. 



3. Cretaceous rocks. 



4. White limestones, with flints, salt, and bitumen. Eocene. 



5. Flint conglomerate, with coralline limestone. Miocene. 



6. Gypseous marls of Wady Taragi. 



7. Reconstructed gypseous sands and conglomerates. 



8. Raised beaches, coralline and miliolitic limestones. 



9. Alluvium and desert drift. 



The Red Sandstone series consists of three members, a thin bed 

 of limestone being the central and containing remains of Encrinites 

 referred by Mr. Etheridge to the Muschelkalk form Encrinites moni- 

 liformis. Iron, manganese, and copper ores are found near Nasb 

 and Serabib el Khadem. The turquoise mines of Wady Maghara, 

 which were referred to the same horizon, are among the most ancient 

 monuments of the world. The author considered that the tools 

 employed were flint chisels or flakes, and hammers made from pieces 

 of a neighbouring doleritic lava. The flakes were supposed to have 

 been mounted on wooden blocks. 



The Cretaceous rocks, which rest unconformably on the Triassic 

 sandstones, consist chiefly of green sand, with alternations of thin 

 argillaceous limestones, containing Echinoderms which prove them 

 to be of the age of the Upper Greensand. Above them comes the 

 Hippurite -limestone series. The fossils were described by Dr. Dun- 

 can, E.R.S., in a subsequent communication. 



The white limestone, with flints, the next group of rocks in 

 ascending order, strongly resembles the European chalk with flints ; 

 but, according to the author, it must be regarded as representing the 

 nummulitic limestone of Egypt, as several species of INummulites 

 have been detected in it near the shores of the Red Sea, below 

 "Wady Gharandel. The Miocene flint conglomerate series is a mass 

 of coarse flint shingle alternating with these coralline limestones. 

 The author considered that a great physical break ensued between 



