THE material brought home by the Danmark Expedition includes 

 a number of quaternary fossils, for the most part mollusc shells, 

 collected during the course of excursions starting from Danmarks 

 Havn. The samples are on the whole small, and present for the 

 most part the impression of having been gathered together in a casual 

 and unsystematic way. This is evident, partly from the fact that 

 smaller forms are wanting, partly also from the lack of represen- 

 tative samples of the soil with its mollusc content, which afford the 

 only possible means of obtaining a proper view of the fauna con- 

 cerned. 



These shortcomings are, however, — apparently, at least — com- 

 pensated for by the uniformity of the fauna in all localities, and by 

 the fact that all the forms found are, with a single exception, still 

 living on the north-east coast of Greenland. 



The exception referred to is Pecten islandicus. This bivalve has 

 not been found living in East Greenland, albeit the present mollusc 

 fauna of that country may now be taken as well known; nor has 

 it been met with in other true high-Arctic seas, such as the Kara 

 Sea, the Polar Sea of Siberia, and the Polar Sea north of arctic 

 America. It lives, however, at Labrador, West Greenland, Jan Mayen, 

 Iceland and Spitzbergen, as also in the Barents Sea. Though it should 

 be considered as a comparatively Arctic form, this species is neverthe- 

 less not to be regarded as particularly high-Arctic'), and its presence 

 in a raised stratum in North-east Greenland would seem to indicate 

 a rise, although only slight, of temperature, with consequent deteri- 

 oration of the climate. Such rise of temperature would probably 

 coincide with the postglacial temperature optimum known from other 

 regions, both in West and East Greenland. In the case of East Green- 

 land, this feature is known especially from the finds of MijtUiis ednlis 



1) cf. Ad. S. Jensen, The Danish Ingolf Expedition, II, 5, Lamellibranchiata. Part 1, 

 1912, p. 18-19. 



47* 



