334 APPENDIX. No. XV. 



by Feilclen, these shales closely resembling those of Cape 

 Staratschin, in the ice fiord of Spitsbergen. 



The strata are laid bare in a deep gully excavated by 

 the stream flowing across them, and are seen to dip towards 

 the east at ten degrees. Overlying the tertiary deposits 

 occur beds of fine mud and glacial drift, with well-preserved 

 shells of mollusca of species now living in the neighbouring- 

 seas, such as Saxicava and Astarte, which beds rise to a 

 height of no less than 1,000 feet above the sea-level, proving 

 a submergence of the lignite and plant-bearing beds to that 

 amount, and a subsequent re-elevation. 



Beds with plant-bearing shales may possibly occur in 

 other parts of Grinnell Land not visited by the Expedition, 

 and those of Discovery Bay were not recognized until a 

 period which only permitted a few visits to that interesting 

 locality. However, a collection was made of thirty species, of 

 which eighteen are known to be common to the Miocene 

 deposits of the Arctic Zone, seventeen of them occurring in 

 Spitsbergen, and eight in Greenland ; the flora of the 

 Grinnell Land Miocene, therefore, more closely approximating 

 to that of Spitsbergen, lying 3° to 4° of latitude further south, 

 than to that of Greenland, situated 11° further south. Six 

 species are common to Europe, four to America (Alaska), two 

 to Asia. 



The muddy shore of a sea or river is indicated by Equise- 

 turn arcticum, Hr., of Grinnell Land and King Bay, Spits- 

 bergen, and, presuming it had a similar habitat, its nearest ally 

 to Equisetum limosum, Lin. Conifers in both these districts 

 hold the first place, four families with the species occurring in 

 Grinnell Land. Torellia rigida, Hr., must have been very 

 abundant ; it was previously only known, in a fragmentary 

 condition, from Cape Staratschin in Spitsbergen. It is 

 allied to the genus Phcenicopsis of the oolitic Brown Jura, 

 which forms a link between the Cordaites of the carboni- 

 ferous and the Torellia of the Arctic Tertiary. 



Taxodium distichum miocenum is most abundant, and 

 well-preserved male flowers, resembling those of Spitsbergen, 



