FOREWORD 



pat er ok mannsins nattiira at forvitna ok sja pa hluti, er hanum eru sag5ir, ok 

 vita, hvart sva er sem hanum er sagt e5a eigi. 



Konungsskuggsjd 



It is in man's nature to wish to see and experience the things that he has heard 

 about and thus learn whether the facts are as told or not. 



King's Minor 

 (Transl. by L. M. Larson: Scandinavian Monographs, vol. Ill, New York, 1917. 



These lines from the King's Mirror, the important Old Norse book which 

 contains, among other things, valuable information on geography and 

 natural history, express better than we can say what has been in our minds 

 when we were editing this book. It is intended not only as a presentation of 

 the current status of our knowledge on the distribution and history of 

 plants and animals in the North Atlantic area, but also as a review of current 

 trends in biogeographical and geological investigations concerning these 

 problems. The papers included were delivered at a symposium held at the 

 University of Iceland. Reykjavik, 12-25 July 1962. During the meeting 29 

 lectures were given, followed by discussion periods, and one long and several 

 smaller excursions were made to parts of Iceland of interest in this connection. 



Although the subject matter of the symposium. North Atlantic biota and 

 their history, has been much discussed for almost a century, this is the first 

 attempt to present in one volume a reasonably many-sided evaluation of the 

 problems involved. It is evident that although many speciahsts from different 

 branches of the life and earth sciences are represented in this book, the 

 number of contributors had to be limited and, thus, also the points of view. 

 There is, however, reason to believe that this compilation will be of value to 

 those students who specialize in similar problems, and that it will help 

 forward their research. Since the situation of Iceland and its unique Tertiary 

 and Pleistocene deposits seem to make this country ideal for such studies, it 

 was selected as the meeting-place for the symposium in the hope that this 

 would advise the scientific world about the importance of much increased 

 scientific studies of this and other North Atlantic "stepping stones". 



The symposium was organized by a small committee consisting of Askell 

 Love, president; Armann Snaevarr and Sigurdur Thorarinsson, vice-presi- 

 dents and representing, respectively, the University of Iceland and the 

 Museum of Natural History in Reykjavik; Eythor Einarsson from the 

 Museum of Natural History, secretary and organizer of the excursions ; and 

 Sigurdur J. Briem, representing the Icelandic Ministry of Education. 



ix 



