1885.] 291 [Rink. 



He alluded to one of these localities as bearing evidence of a whole forest 

 having been buried there. Numbers of trunks and branches were imbedded 

 in the sandstone formed out of the sand tliat once enveloped thorn. Red- 

 dish brown ferruginous parts of the sandstone beds are filled with amaz- 

 ing quantities of leaves. Generally their substance is preserved, whereas 

 some of them exist only as impressions. A piece of sandstone six inches 

 square contained twenty-six leaves belonging to eleven species. In other 

 pieces the leaves all belonged to the same species. As regards animals 

 only the wing shells of some insects had been found. But fruits and seeds 

 were found in connection with the leaves, all the parts being in such a 

 state of preservation as to exclude the possibility of their having been 

 carried from some distant place. They must have been derived frcm 

 plants growing in a peaty soil and in the surrounding woods. The Arctic 

 expeditions led to the discovery of similar remains in many places through- 

 out the Polar regions from Banks land in the far west to Spitsbergen- 

 But here again Greenland has offered the most favorable opportunities for 

 exploration, and especially during the latest years afforded materials to 

 throw light upon the other Polar regions with regard to this branch of 

 natural science. The earlier series of discoveries were concluded by the 

 rich collections brought home from Greenland by Nordenskjold in 1870, 

 and completed by Nauckhoff in 1871. In the " Flora fossilis arctica" of 

 Heer, the number of Greenland species was brought up to 316. By Steen- 

 strup's collections in 1878-1880, this number was increased to 613 ; tliis re- 

 sult induced Heer to publish a separate work under the name of " Flora 

 fossilis Grenlnndiea." Having received these latest collections from Green- 

 land, Heer wrote that he would be able to describe the remarkable forests 

 that during two geological epochs had covered those regions of the far 

 north. He derives the fossil plants partly from the tertiary, partly from 

 the cretaceous period, a long inter%'al severing these divisions. The ter- 

 tiary Flora of Greenland comprises not less than 200 species of trees and 

 bushes. Tha woods presented twenty-eight coniferous, but far more 

 foliferous trees, such as poplars, birches, elm, plane-trees, ash, maple, beech, 

 chestnut, a number of oak and walnut, four laurels, three ebony, six magno- 

 lias and two fan-palms. The insects comprised thirteen species, but of 

 Vertebrata not the least trace has been discovered. 



Of the cretaceous plants the most important families are : Cycadeae, 

 Araucariae, Zingiberaceae, Balanophorss and Sapotaceae. The Cycadea and 

 the arboreous ferns lead to the supposition of a climate like that of Funchal 

 or Madeira, which during the tertiary epoch had passed into that of 

 Southern France. 



In 1883, Nordenskjold was accompanied by the distinguished botanist, 

 Nathurst, who, according to the preliminary report, has paid peculiar 

 attention to the fossil Flora of Greenland, and not only discovered many 

 new species, but also afforded valuable information as regards the number 

 and chronological order of the strata and the question about the soil in 

 which the plants have rooted. 



