126 DE. W. I\ HUME ON SECTJLAE OSCILLATION IN EGYPT [Feb. I9II, 



Dr. Blanckenhorn made a considerable advance when visiting 

 Luxor in 1902, by finding a small fauna in the shales between the 

 temples of Deir el Bahari and Deir el Medina, in which Dr. Oppen- 

 heim recognized thirteen species identical with those occurring 

 in the Cretaceous beds of the Oases, including so characteristic a 

 species as Cinulia ptahis (Wann.). Two species also agreed with 

 forms from the Chalk of Siegsdorf in Southern Bavaria ; and the 

 cephalopod originally named Aturia ziczac, which had been so 

 helpful in complicating the problem by its strong Eocene affinities, 

 was regarded as really a precursor of that species and named by 

 Oppenheim Aturia prceziczac. Mr. Beadnell 1 later re-examined the 

 eastern bank of the Nile, and was enabled to arrive at broad con- 

 clusions with regard to the Cretaceous age of the Esna Shales, and 

 the relations of those beds to the White Chalk. Hitherto, however, 

 the relations of the Oases Danian fauna to the Pecten Beds of the 

 Eastern Desert had not been precisely determined. During the spring 

 of 1905, when examining the geology of the Eastern Nile Valley 

 border between Esna and Aswan, I was enabled to obtain satis- 

 factory evidence of their relations and of the Upper Cretaceous 

 succession in this portion of the country, obtaining some valuable 

 evidence in addition to that already recorded by Mr. Beadnell (op. 

 cit., table on p. 675). 



The strata in question are well exposed in the shallow valleys to 

 the east of Kilabia, on the eastern bank of the Nile south of Esna, 

 where the following succession is clearly displayed : — 



(Top.) 1. The summits of the hills are covered with a biscuit-coloured 

 limestone containing abundant Lower Eocene fossils, notably Cono- 

 clypeus delanouei de Lor., Rhabclocidaris libyensis Gregory, and 

 Linthia cavernosa de Lor. Operciclina libyca Sell wager sometimes 

 forms the main mass of the rock. 



2. An upper series of shales, the Esna Shales, in which fossils are 



rare, corals similar to those mentioned below (p. 127) being, however, 

 obtained on several occasions. 



3. White Limestone or Chalk weathering pink, which contains 



very poor specimens of Ostrea vesicularis. The absence of distinctive 

 fossils has been a cause of difficulty : and, after a most careful search 

 by several observers, the fauna remains remarkably poor, being limited 

 to Echinocorys vulgaris Leske (found by Mr. Beadnell at Fares, on 

 the western bank of the Nile near Kom Ombo, but searched for in 

 vain by both of us on the eastern side) ; Ostrea vesicularis (from 

 various localities) ; Ventriculites of large size (on the shore at 

 Ragaina, Kom Ombo plain) ; and Schizorhabdus libycus (found by 

 Dr. Schweinfurth and Mr. Beadnell near Ragaina, and by myself 

 on the summit of the white limestone in the hills west of Esna). 

 Despite its poverty, the fauna is evidently that of the White Chalk of 

 the Oases, and the limestone of Kilabia and Kom Ombo is therefore 

 the Eastern equivalent of that formation. 



4. Shales underlying the White Limestone. — When examining 



the Kilabia section, I obtained an abundant Danian fauna which is 



1 'Relations of the Eocene & Cretaceous Systems in the Esna-Aswan Reach 

 of the Nile Valley ' Q. J. G-. S. vol. lxi (1905) pp. 667-78. 



