382 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



species are so rare and local that he predicts the discovery 

 of several more species. It should be remembered that the 

 eightieth parallel traverses the north-east island. He was 

 of opinion, too, that most, and probably all of the Spitz- 

 bergen plants, have migrated thither during the post-glacial 

 period. About seventy-five per cent, of the vascular plants 

 are described as flourishing perfectly and producing seeds, 

 and these, it is assumed, reached the islands before the re- 

 maining twenty-five per cent., which consist mainly of bog 

 and sea-shore plants. The migration of these plants into 

 Spitzbergen was, probably with few exceptions, overland, as 

 Spitzbergen and Novaia Zemlia were connected with Russia 

 and Scandinavia, the connection having since subsided. 

 Nathorst further argues that there have been none but acci- 

 dental exchanges between the floras of Greenland and 

 Spitzbergen in post-tertiary times. This argument is 

 further developed in several articles (10) in which the 

 author analyses the flora of Greenland in detail ; and 

 Warming (11) contests in detail the correctness of 

 Nathorst's theories. Schenk (12) gives a short account of 

 some fossil woods from Green Harbour, figured by Heer 

 (13), which Schenk regards as Jurassic rather than tertiary. 

 The interesting- fact connected with this is the former exist- 

 ence of arboreous vegetation in so high a latitude as 78 . 

 I can only refer to the reports on the botanical results of the 

 last British Polar Expedition (14), and Lieutenant Greely's 

 Expedition (15) ; and I merely introduce them in order to 

 render the bibliography more nearly complete for purposes 

 of comparison. Mr. Hart's work is a most valuable 

 synopsis of facts. 



Proceeding southward into the more open ocean, we 

 come to the island of Jan Mayen in latitude J\ u , and about 

 150 miles from the coast of Greenland. It is some thirty 

 nautical miles in length, and rises in the north-east to a 

 height of between 6000 and 7000 feet. The central part is 

 a narrow neck of land connecting- the northern and southern 

 expansions. Drift-wood Bay, on the eastern side of this 

 neck, received its name and is remarkable for the quantity 

 • of drift-wood found there. Until the Austrian expedition 



