Clupea laticauda, Hakel.
Clupea minima, Sach el Aalma.
Clupea brevissima, Hakel. This fish, originally described by M. de Blainville, appears to be very common in its locality.
Of the Esocidæ, there is the fish called Rhinellus furcatus, which occurs at Sach el Aalma.
Of the Sclerodermi, several species of Dircetis occur at Sach el Aalma. A curious and anomalous fish, called Coccodus armatus, is found at Hakel.
Of Cartilaginous fishes, a Spinax is found at Sach el Aalma.
The curious Cyclobatis oligodactylus of Egerton belongs to the same division.
In the north of Syria, M. C. Gaillardot has observed several distinct stages of rocks belonging to the great Nummulitic formation, and therefore, according to the received geological classification, members of the Eocene group of Tertiaries. The newest of these beds are stated to consist of compact white or grey limestones containing fossil corals, sea-urchins, and oysters.
Under these is a white chalky limestone, alternating with green and grey soft marls and other limestones, almost entirely made up, according to Vicomte D’Archiac, of the Nummulina intermedia. In the white limestones of Ainzarka are found Nummulina Raymondi, N. lœvigata, and Alveolina subpyrenacia. M. Gaillardot would distinguish the entire group of strata constituting the highest mountains of Syria by the name of the Libanian System. He appears, however, to have confounded strata of very different ages, tertiary rocks with cretaceous and jurassic. In the true Lebanon region the mummulitic beds seem to be altogether wanting. It is possible that they may be present in the Antioch district, but this has not been clearly made out as yet. M. Russegger has shewn, contrary to the views of M. Gaillardot, that the region around Jerusalem is mainly of oolitic age, with occasional remains of cretaceous strata outlying here and there.
During the Armenian expedition to the shores of the Dead Sea, considerable collections of Syrian fossils appear to have been amassed. These have been described by Mr. Conrad, and are figured in the report very recently published by Mr. Lynch. The cretaceous beds of Syria are therein referred in part, at least, to the age of the white chalk of Europe. The Jurassic fossils are, for the most part, in the condition of casts. Species of Nerinœa were noticed, and among European forms, the Ostrea scapha of Roemer, and the Ostrea virgata of Goldfuss. A very remarkable fossil is the Ammonites Syriacus, from the Lebanon region; it is a species apparently of the genus Ceratites, a group of cephalopods usually regarded as characteristic of strata of Triassic age, but in this instance possibly represented among cretaceous beds.