Geology of Scandinavia, 307 



found in the parish of Eger, between Christiania and Konigs- 

 berg. The best known places in this respect are the farms of 

 Raae, of Soulhong and Saasen, on the western banks of the 

 lake of Fiskrem, where the orthoceratites and trilobites are 

 heaped together in thousands. It would be desirable to fill 

 some boxes with these productions, in order that they might 

 be carefully examined in Paris. 



I have never heard, adds M. de Buch, that organic bodies 

 have been found in the slates of Hedemarken or of the Hade- 

 laneb ; it would therefore be so much the more interesting to 

 discover even slight traces of them in these districts. 



These collections will serve to establish the relations which 

 doubtless exist between the different etages of the transition- 

 formations of the Scandinavian peninsula, and those of Wales, 

 which Messrs Murchison and Sedgwick have divided into two 

 great systems, the Silurian and the Cambrian. 



But if the motives which I have mentioned render it desi- 

 rable to procure good collections of fossils from the southern 

 parts of the Scandinavian peninsula, a greater interest is at- 

 tached to those which might be collected in the high latitudes 

 which the expedition is to explore. Sedimentary formations, 

 which may be supposed analogous to those of the south of 

 Sweden, cover a portion of the country between Torneo and the 

 North Cape ; the valley of the river Torneo, near that town, 

 and the valley of the Alten near Aaltengaard, traverse these 

 formations ; but what particularly may make us expect dis- 

 coveries of the greatest interest, is the circumstance that parts 

 of Spitzbergen and the neighbouring islands are formed of 

 stratified rocks of a somewhat analogous appearance. 



13. Geology of Spitzhergeii and Bear Island. — I shall state 

 in a few words the details which have been given to us on the 

 geological constitution of Spitzbergen, by several well-informed 

 travellers, such as Pennant, Lord Mulgrave, and especially 

 Captain Scoresby, and Professor Keilhau of Christiania. 



The western part of Spitzbergen has a nucleus, a chain of 

 bold mountains which rise to a considerable height. Their 

 jagged forms, to which the name of Spitzbergen is undoubted- 

 ly due, exhibit a ridge of crystalline rocks, analogous to those 

 of the Swiss and Scandinavian Alps. Their massive aspect 



