13^ 



NA TURE 



[Att^. 17, 1876 



It is a very flattened cone, perfectly regular, 15 metres 

 high on a base of from 1,000 to 1,200 metres, presenting 

 at the summit an opening of about 80 metres, with a 

 depth of 6 metres. It is formed entirely of bright- 

 coloured scoriae, black, yellow, but mostly red. 



On the morrow, after having passed the night under a 

 break in the lava of the rampart, exposed to the moisture 

 and to a glacial wind, we ascended the slopes of the 

 Bory Peak, in order to reach the burning crater. On our 

 arrival at the mouth of the crater all the volcanic phe- 

 nomena had ceased ; on the slopes of the cone, formed 

 of scoriae and heaps of ashes is detached a black stream 

 of vitreous lava which made its way by numerous fissures 

 to about 100 metres from the summit. The cooled 

 lava formed at the bottom of the crater a circular shaft 

 about 80 metres in depth, like a solid crust much fissured. 

 Abundant vapours escaped from various points in the 

 walls, which presented alternate streams of lava and 

 scorias, covered, especially towards the summit, by a 

 whitish coating, formed of the crystals of gypsum. The 

 lava of the last eruption had flowed to the north-east 

 towards the plain of Osmondes ; it was not very exten- 

 sive, very scoriaceous, bluish-black, and entirely vitreous. 

 It must have been accompanied or followed by numerous 

 ejections and particularly by a rain of those volcanic 

 threads so frequently thrown out by the volcanoes 

 of the Sandwich Islands, and known as Pelt's Hair ; 

 for these brown filaments, which are simply wire- 

 drawn obsidians, bedecked all the irregularities of the 

 lava. In the crevasses which crossed the last flow, the 

 temperature was 5o°7 near the surface, and about 72" 

 at 2 metres below. The vapours of water and of hydro- 

 chloric acid were given off at frequent intervals here as 

 well as at various points of the escarpment which directly 

 preceded the volcanic cone. A small inclosure, not 

 hitherto referred to, surrounded the crater ; its precipices 

 were about 60 metres high. The mass of the volcano is 

 thus composed of two peaks, the highest of which (2,625 

 metres) supports the crater Bory, extinct since the be- 

 ginning of the century ; while the other (the Foumaise 

 peak, 2,5 i 5 metres), which is of later formation, supports 

 the active crater. The products of this volcano are com- 

 posed mainly of basaltic or vitreous lavas rich in chry- 

 solite ; this mineral, so characteristic of modern eruptions, 

 is often ejected in voluminous and compact masses. The 

 products of the old volcano, which must at one time have 

 occupied the centre of the three valleys of Cilaos, Salazie, 

 and Mafatte, are quite different ; they are scattered over a 

 trachytic mass which is only seen, however, in the beds 

 of the torrents which drain the three circles above re- 

 ferred to. 



Our porters, whom the sight of the volcano deeply im- 

 pressed, were unwilling to follow us on to the lavas ; they 

 remained at the Belcombe Pass, and would not on any 

 account on our return take charge of the rocks and vol- 

 cano products which I had collected. Some maintained 

 that stones were plentiful enough on the shore, and that 

 it was useless to carry them from such a height ; others, 

 affecting a gross superstition, would not touch what came 

 from the " fire of the good God." I had to use a little 

 trickery, and take advantage of the darkness to slip into 

 their sacks my day's collection. 



ARCTIC FOSSIL FLORA ^ 



'y HIS third volume of Dr. Heer's " Fossil Flora of the 

 ■*■ Arctic Regions " contains four very distinct chapters. 

 The first of these relates to the Plants of the Coal-mea- 

 sures of the Arctic Zone ; the second to the Plants of the 

 Chalk Formation of the same Zone ; the third gives an 



' " Flora Fossilis Arctica." Die Fossile Flora der Polarlander von Dr. 

 Oiwald Heer. Dritter Band. (Zurich, 1875.) 



account of the Miocene Flora of Greenland ; and the 

 fourth is a review of the Miocene Flora of the Arctic 

 Zone. For the material for the first three chapters of 

 this volume the author has the Swedish naturalists alone 

 to thank, and in addition, the Swedish Academy of 

 Sciences has been at the expense of the several parts 

 composing it, which will also be found in Vols. 12 and 13 

 of their " Abhandlungen." The fourth chapter is added 

 at the expense of Dr. Heer, and not only notices the 

 Miocene plants referred to in the three first volumes, but 

 also those collected during the summer of 1873 in Spitz- 

 bergen by Prof. Nordenskjdld. 



It would not be desirable here to do more than notice 

 the general contents of this quarto volume, which contains 

 notices of four species of plants found in the lower coal- 

 measures of Spitzbergen ; of seventy-five species from 

 the lower and of sixty-five species from the upper chalk 

 of Greenland, of sixteen species from the chalk of Spitz- 

 bergen, and of thirty-four species from the Miocene of 

 Greenland, most of these species are illustrated in the 

 forty-nine plates which accompany the volume. One 

 remarkable fern, Protopte7-is punctata, Stbg., is referred 

 to in the text as a proof of the occurrence of the coal- 

 measures at Ujarasusuk at Disco. It was originally 

 described from specimens found in the sandstone of 

 Kaunitz, in Bohemia, which had been most generally 

 described as belonging to the coal-measures ; it would 

 seem, however, from the researches of Herr Feistmantel 

 that the Kaunitz sandstone really belongs to the chalk 

 formation, thus doing away with the only point which for 

 a moment seemed to favour the existence of the coal for- 

 mation in Greenland, seeming to prove that on both sides 

 of the Waigat, at Disco, and at Half Island, Noursoak, 

 the oldest sedimentary formations are chalk deposits. 

 These from the former locality apparently belong to the 

 Upper Cretaceous period, while the dark-brown rocks 

 and sandstones of the north side of the latter locality 

 belong to the Lower Cretaceous period. Higher up succeed 

 the Miocene deposits, which are covered and penetrated 

 by intrusions of the mighty basalt rock. 



From the many various localities now known in the 

 Arctic regions for fossil plants, none indicating a marine 

 origin have occurred to Dr. Heer. Steenstrup, jun., how- 

 ever, has detected the remains of some marine animals 

 from the district of Atane, between Patut and Niick 

 Kiterdlek ; here, in several places at an elevation of some 

 2,000 feet over sea-level, he found Echinoderms and 

 marine shells. Cyclostis^ma Nat/wrsti, very near C. Kil- 

 torkense, Haughton, is described as new from the coal of 

 Spitzbergen. 



A glance at the list of the Miocene plants shows how 

 changed the seasons in the Arctic Zone must be fiom the 

 time when these plants were living and bearing the leaves 

 which have been so well preserved. Hawthorn and 

 brambles, walnuts, magnolias, and vines, not to allude to 

 planes, Macclintockias, and many of the more delicate 

 Conifers, seemed to have flourished ere the reign of ice 

 came and burnt them up. The list of cretaceous fossil 

 plants from North Greenland is accompanied by a list of 

 the localities where they were collected. The collection, 

 a very large one, is for the most part in the museum at 

 Stockholm ; many of the species are described as new. 

 The absence of insect life amid all this plant life is note- 

 worthy, but two species, probably weevils, being described 

 in this volume. 



Many countries have contributed the material for Prof. 

 Heer to work out the history of the " Flora of the Arctic 

 World," A great deal still remains to be done. Now that 

 England, Denmark, and Sweden have done so much, we 

 must look to Russia to contribute according to her means 

 and the extent of her Arctic possessions ; she has done 

 nobly in tracing out the contour line of her northern coast. 

 We would now know more of the rocks that form it. 



E. P. W. 



