| Summit of escarpment ofFayûm depression, 2 kilometres N.N.W. of Widan el Faras. | |||
| Top. | Metres. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sandstones with band of coarse darkferruginous grit; silicified logs occur weathered-out of thisbed | 18 | |
| 2. | Coarse sandstone-grit with yellowishcalcareous base | 1 | |
| 3. | Greyish clay, possibly a product ofdecomposed basalt | ||
| 4. | Basalt sheet, soft friable, grey orbright green, and decomposed at base | 5 | |
| 5. | Hard yellow calcareous-grit withcalcite-filled cavities, passing into semi-compacted yellowishsand, hardened at junction with basalt | 1 | |
| 6. | White and red sands | 27 | |
| 7. | Greenish sandstones and yellowconcretionary sands with 2·5 cm. layer of calcareous grit, withgastropods including large Cerithium, Melania sp.,Turritella pharaonica, Pleurotoma ingens, May.-Eym.,occasional lamellibranchs and also Callianassa | ||
| 8. | White, green and brown sands andsand-rock | 17 | |
| 9. | Hard yellow calcareous grit | 10 | |
| 10. | Red and white clayey sand and sandyclays; some pebbly bands; Lucina sp., Unio sp.,[67]preserved in brown ironstone, common in places on this horizon | ||
| 11. | Coarse grey and white sand (2metres) | 5 | |
| 12. | Red clayey sands (1 metre) | ||
| 13. | White and yellow sand and sand-rock | ||
| 14. | Red clays | 7 | |
| 15. | Sandy ferruginous band withlamellibranchs and gastropods of genera Unio,Pseudodon, Mutela, Spatha and Lanistes,indicating fluviatile or fresh water conditions of deposition | 5 | |
| 16. | Green clay (1 metre) passing into a redvariety | 6 | |
| 17. | White sandy clay (2 metres) | ||
| 18. | Red clays | ||
| 19. | White, brown, and red sands, partlyconsolidated | ||
| 20. | Bright red clay | ||
| 21. | Hard coarse sandstone | 3 | |
| 22. | Hard compact light yellow limestoneenclosing sand-grains (½ metre) | 5 | |
| 23. | White and yellow sands | ||
| 24. | Greenish clays (1 metre) | ||
| 25. | Coarse white sands with Unio andCardium-like lamellibranchs preserved in brownironstone | ||
| 26. | Grey clay | 2 | |
| 27. | Hard yellow impure limestone (forms asmall platform) | 2 | |
| 28. | Grey clays | ||
| 29. | Red and yellow sands with hard base ofgrey sandstone | 15 | |
| 30. | Grey sandstones. Base of basalt-cappedescarpment | 7 | |
| (Section continued ¾kilometre south-east). | |||
| 31. | Hard blue-grey compact cherty limestone(½ metre) with casts of Melania; hollows often filled withcalcite | 18 | |
| 32. | Variegated (red, white and yellow) sands,sand-rock and sandy clays | 18 | |
| 33. | Hard compact close-grained limestone | ||
| 34. | Red and white variegated sands andsand-rock, with some bands of red clay | ||
| 35. | Hard yellow impure limestone (⅓) | 14 | |
| 36. | Grey clays | ||
| 37. | Coarse white sand | ||
| 38. | Brown calcareous sandstones | ||
| 39. | Greenish and grey sandy clays (3metres) | 8 | |
| 40. | Alternating white and red sands | ||
| 41. | Coarse yellow calcareous grit (½metre) | 2 | |
| 42. | Light green sandstone | ||
| 43. | Reddish clays | ||
| 44. | White sand | 2 | |
| 45. | Alternating white and bright redsands | 19 | |
| 46. | Grey sandstone with silicified wood;occasional crocodilian and other bones | ||
| 47. | Hard red clays | 5 | |
| 48. | Grey and brown clays, sandy clays, andthin beds of sandstone with some silicified wood | 19 | |
| 49. | Grey sandstones and loose false-beddedsandy clays with many silicified trees and remains[68]of Arsinoitherium Zitteli, Bead., PalæomastodonBeadnelli, Andr., Mœritherium sp., Phiomiaserridens, Andr. and Beadn., Saghatherium antiquum,Andr. and Beadn., S. minus, Andr. and Beadn., Megalohyraxeocænus, Andr., Ancodus Gorringei, Andr. and Beadn.,Pterodon africanus, Andr., Crocodilus sp.,Tomistoma africanum, Andr., and large and numerous tortoises(Testudo Ammon, Andr.)[69] and turtles[70],and very rarely fragmentary fish-remains | 5 | |
| 50. | Thin bands of limestone | 25 | |
| 51. | Yellow sand-rock | ||
| 52. | Grey sandstone with fragments of bone (½metre) | ||
| 53. | Brown calcareous-grit (½ metre) | ||
| 54. | Light green sand-rock and sandstone | ||
| Approximate total thickness inmetres | 271 | ||
The specimens collected from Bed 15, on about the same horizon as the fossils mentioned from the locality 14 kilometres north of Qasr el Sagha, were examined by Blanckenhorn, who has published the following notice of them:—
“I should first mention the fresh-water shells found by Beadnell in brown sandstone 1 kilometre north of Camp 19 (i.e. at Widan el Faras), which, in the absence of special literature on the Palaeogene fresh-water shells of North Africa and nearer Asia, I have compared with the fauna of to-day, in which I was most kindly helped by Professor v. Martens, Director of the Conchological Collection of the Natural History Museum. The greater number of the forms have a distinctly tropical, and more especially Central African, character.
Unio sp., small, related to the recent U. Nyassænsis of Lake Nyassa.
Unio, related to U. Homsensis[71] Lea, from Syria, and U. Bonneaudi from Cochin China, with many radial folds behind the umbo which run obliquely from the blunt edge backwards towards the hinge-border.
Unio, related to U. teretiusculus, Phil. (Caillaudi, Fer., lithophagus, Ziegli.) of the Nile.
Pseudodon? sp.
Mutela (a genus of tropical Africa) sp., long, with a straight finely-toothed hinge-border which very much recalls that of Barbatia (a sub-genus of Arca).
Spatha sp. related to S. dahomeyensis and S. Droueti of Assinia in West Africa.
Lanistes carinatus,[72] scarcely distinguishable from the Nile form.