126 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. Vol. ix.] 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Some remarks on Inter-Glacial Epochs, in reference 

 TO Fauna and Flora existing at the present day in the 

 Northern Hemisphere, between the parallels of 81^ 

 and 83^ N., BY H. W. Feilden, F.G.S.— In the brief paper 

 that I have the honour of submitting to your notice, it is my 

 desire to draw your attention to the theory of intercalation of 

 series of warmer climates during what is called the Glacial 

 Epoch. 



In accordance with the opinions of Professor Oswald Heer 

 and the late Sir Charles Lyell, the existence of Inter-Glacial 

 Periods has been indisputably evidenced by the Diirnten beds of 

 Switzerland, and the Forest bed of our Norfolk coast ; and while 

 Professor Heer considers that the Diirnten lignite beds represent 

 the existence of a climate similar to that now existing in Switzer- 

 land, Lyell remarks that the Forest bed of Cromer presents a 

 singular analogy to that of Diirnten, and that " both of them 

 alike demonstrate that there were oscillations of temperature in 

 the course of that long period of cold."^ 



Mr. James Geikie in his valuable work " The Great Ice Age," 

 has likewise adopted the theory of the intercalation of warmer 

 climates to account for the inter-glacial beds of Scotland. In 

 fact, so many of our greatest modern authorities have given their 

 adhesion to this theory, that it may almost be regarded as an 

 accepted fact amongst modern geologists. That the so-called 

 inter-glacial beds of Scotland and England were deposited between 

 the commencement of the Glacial Epoch and its final withdrawal 

 from Great Britain, is a well-established fact ; but the question 

 I am desirous of presenting to your consideration is, whether 

 the so-called inter-glacial beds represent what Lyell terms "oscil- 

 lations of temperature," or merely modifications of temperature 

 due to alteration in the levels of land-masses, and the consequent 

 chan<>-e in their character as condensers of moisture, with 

 probably a change also in the direction of the oceanic currents. 



My suggestion, that it may not be necessary to connect the so- 

 called inter-glacial beds with sudden changes or oscillations of 

 temperature, is based upon the results of observations in Grinnell 

 Land during 1875-76. 



* Lyell, Principles of Geology, vol. i. p. 196, eleventh edition. 



