but probably prae-Cretaceous, and the newer contemporaneous with the flint-conglomerate.
Notes on some Specimens of Nummulitic Rocks from Arabia and Egypt. By Prof. Rupert Jones, F.G.S.
Mr. H. Bauerman having requested me to examine a series of typical specimens of the Nummulitic rocks brought by him from the East, I append the following remarks on eight specimens, including a Strontian crystal, containing some Nummulites and other organisms, from near Cairo.
Specimen No, 1. " S. of Wady Gharandel, 7 April, 1868." (Greyish brown asphaltic Nummulitic limestone, weathering white.) Mainly composed of Nummulina Ghyzensis[1], large and small, with N. curvispira and N. Ramondi. Serpula present.
No. 2. " Asphalt rock, S. of Wady Gharandel, 7 April." Like No. 1, but browner. Contains N. Ghyzensis (large and small), pieces of Conchifera, and small fragments of Echinoderms. Serpula also is present.
No. 3. " Asphalt Rock, S. of Wady Gharandel, 7 April." Light-brown rock (weathering white), in which Nummulina Ghyzensis is abundantly visible throughout, together with Serpuloe and some fragments of Echinoderms.
No. 4. " Asphalt Rock, S. of Wady Gharandel, 7 April." A piece of thin-bedded (1/2 inch) light-brown limestone, weathering grey on the planes of bedding, and there showing its granular structure and the organic fragments of which it is mainly composed. On one face is a small Ostrea, with Nummulina Ramondi. N. intermedia and pieces of Pecten(?) and of Echinoderms are seen in the mass.
No. 5. "Asphalt Rock, near Gharandel, 7 April." No definite organic remains are visible in this brown rock. It has the darkest colour of all the specimens. By treatment with acid, it is found to contain 90 per cent. of carbonate of lime and 10 per cent, of carbonaceous matter, which remains as a brown powder, easily inflamed, burning with a bituminous odour. This substance is in sufficient quantity to colour the limestone, and to give it when warmed by the hand a bituminous smell ; but it is not dissolved out of the rock in any appreciable quantity by boiling in turpentine -spirit or in petroleum.
No. 6. " Lowest rock seen just beyond Pharaoh's Fall, 7 April." A limestone altered by the agency of mineral springs, showing hollow casts and remnants of Nummulina Ramondi and Operculina canalifera (?).
No. 7. " Nummulitic Limestone-gravel of Wady Gharandel, 16 June." Bluish-grey limestone full of N. Ramondi. Subangular, polished by sand-action.
No. 8. A Strontian crystal, from near Cairo, containing Nummulina Ramondi, and a Polyzoon comparable with Eschara Thompsoni, D'Archiac & J. H. 'Foss. de l'Inde,' pl. 36, f. 2.
- ↑ In writing of Nummulites Ghyzensis (Foss. de l'Inde, 1853, p. 95), D'Archiac states, "As yet N. Ghyzensis is peculiar to Egypt. It abounds especially in the Arabian range, in that of Mokattam to the East of Cairo, and on the lower slopes of the mount Sinai massif, where it is associated with N. Ramondi, whilst in the Desert west of Cairo it is accompanied by N. Lucasana, var. β,"
