FOSSIL FLORAS OF ARCTIC REGIONS NATHORST. 661 



in all stages of decay. Also, in certain places, these remains were 

 still fairly abundant at a distance of 1,100 to 1,200 kilometers from 

 the shore. This distance corresponds to about 10 degrees of latitude. 

 It is thus proved that the remains of plants may be transported for 

 very considerable distances. But this is true only of marine deposits. 

 If we are concerned with fresh-water sediments, the example given 

 has no bearing on the case. 



One might, however, reasonably suppose that a river, flowing in 

 the direction of the meridian from south to north, might have carried 

 from the southern regions leaves and other fragments of vegetation 

 winch became buried in some deposit of the stream itself, or of a lake, 

 which it traversed, or of its delta. This is a possibility which must 

 not be neglected, but on the other hand it must not be treated as 

 though it were an ascertained fact, since we do not know how far it 

 applies to the case in point. 



The fact is, it is puerile to attempt to draw conclusions as to the 

 ancient climates of the Arctic regions, before the nature of the 

 deposits in which the fossil plants have been found has been ascer- 

 tained. It is especially important that an attempt should be made 

 to answer the question, Did the plants once flourish in the neighbor- 

 hood of the deposits in which they are found, or were they trans- 

 ported from far-away lands? It is this question which an attempt 

 will here be made to solve, by furnishing a concise resume of the 

 principal beds containing fossil plants in the Arctic regions. 



In Bear Island, 1 and in Ellesrnere Land, 2 beds extremely rich in 

 plant remains are met with belonging to the Devonian system. The 

 fossil plants of Bear Island occur in the series of beds which also 

 include several seams cf coal. Beneath the coal, which is composed 

 essentially of the bark and trunks of Botlirodendron, one finds, as 

 elsewhere, bituminous schists containing roots, and from this one 

 can show that the plants of which we speak nourished, at least in 

 part, in situ. This is likewise proved by the actual nature of the 

 plants, as much in the older beds with Arcliseopteris fcmbriata Nath., 

 as in the more recent with Pseudolornia ursina Nath. The latter 

 species has been found with large stems or rhizomes, as well as very 

 small ones, only a few millimeters in diameter, to which extremely 

 delicate, almost membranous, leaves are still attached. It is hence 

 quite certain that there is here no question of the plants having come 

 from distant regions. The materials have not been sorted out. One 

 sees a medley of branches, small and large, and the perfection of the 



1 A. G. Nathorst, "Zur Oberdevonischen Flora der B:iren Insel:" Kong]. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl. 

 vol. 36, No. 3, Stockholm, 1902. 



2 Id., " Die Oberdevonische Flora des Ellesrnere Landes: " Rep. 2nd Norweg. Arctic Exped. in the Frara 

 vol. 1, Ohristiania, 1904. 



38734°— sm 1911 22 



