Geology of Scandinavia, 805 



Besides, it would be of consequence to possess good collec- 

 tions of those recent fossil shells which are spread over so many 

 parts of the surface of Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Spitz- 

 bergen, and also collections of the shells which are now found 

 living in the neighbouring seas, in order to be able to appre- 

 ciate exactly the degree of resemblance which they have to each 

 other, and the greater or less changes which may have taken 

 place in the seas since they became fossil. 



A certain creek in Spitzbergen called Shell-Bay^ might per- 

 haps furnish, in the way of fossil or living shells, some useful 

 objects for this comparison. 



It would also be interesting to find in these deposits bones of 

 quadrupeds or of cetaceous animals, which have not yet been 

 noticed, except at Spitzbergen ; a deficiency the more remark- 

 able, as the seas of the "northern inhabited countries swarm with 

 so great a number of whales, seals, white bears, and other large 

 animals, and as Sweden, Norway, and Lapland, contain a great 

 number of rein-deer, wolves, bears, wolverines, and other quad- 

 rupeds, whose bones are certainly buried, in the present times, 

 in the shore deposits. 



11. Beds of Fossil Infusoria. — Amongst the modern depo- 

 sits which should be recommended to the attention of the natu- 

 ralists of the expedition, we must not forget that fossil farina, 

 chiefly composed of siliceous shields of infusoria, often analogous 

 to living species, which the Laplanders sometimes mix with 

 their food. It has been found near Umea, at Dcgerford, and in 

 Finland. It would be interesting to ascertain the mode of oc- 

 currence of this siliceous deposit of organic origin, and to pos- 

 sess collections of all its varieties, and of whatever is associated 

 with it. 



12. Transition and secondary Jbrmations. — Most of the se- 

 dimentary formations which have been observed by geologists 

 in the centre and south of Europe are awanting in Scandi- 

 navia. There is reason to think that, during a great part 

 (^f the tertiary and secondary periods, this country formed 

 part of a large island or continent ; and the small patches 

 of secondary formations which we find in it, are therefore 

 of the greater interest in a geological point of view. I shall 

 mention particularly, in reference to this, the small patch 



