96 Prof. O. Heer on the last Discoveries 



what has been named the Triassic or Saliferous formation. 

 This consists of numerous shells, and in part also of species 

 which lived in the seas by which our countries were covered 

 (such as Halohia LommeUi)^ and also of large animals resem- 

 bling crocodiles and known as Ichthyosauri. 



Spitzbergen has likewise preserved a certain number of 

 species of animals belonging to the following or Jurassic pe- 

 riod : these also are known forms, ammonites and cuttlefishes, 

 such as are so frequently met with in the Jura. 



The Cretaceous formation has not yet been indicated ; but 

 great deposits have been met with belonging to the following 

 epoch, the Tertiary formation, and in this to the Miocene pe- 

 riod, which has left so rich a flora in Greenland. 



We find in Spitzbergen the same vestiges of the past as in 

 Greenland. Spitzbergen also must have possessed a fresh- 

 water lake surrounded by peaty marshes ; for at the Bell 

 Sound in the Ice fiord we see extensive deposits of lignites, 

 originating from turbaries, and which are now surrounded by 

 sandstones and by a fine argillaceous schist containing plants 

 belonging to that period. In the lake grew a Neriuphar and 

 a Potamogeton {P. Norclenshtoeldi) perfectly resembling that so 

 often met with in the Swiss lakes (P. natans). This species 

 occurs at Bell Sound and in the Ice fiord : from this we may 

 conclude with some certainty that the lake extended over the 

 whole country. In the waters of the lake little insects (Co- 

 leoptera) played about; their remains have been preserved 

 in the schists of Cape Starastschin. On the bank grew 

 a large reed and the same marsh-cypress [Taxodium dis- 

 tichum mioccemim) that we have made acquaintance with in 

 Greenland. Numerous branches of this have been sent to 

 me, obtained from Bell Sound and from Cape Starastschin ; 

 to my great delight I found among these remains fruits, 

 seeds, and even branches bearing the elegant flowers of this 

 tree. These remains show that the deposits were formed 

 in the spring as well as in the autumn. The characters 

 of this marsh-cypress agree with those of the species now 

 living in the United States, where it overshadows great 

 marshes. It indicates this remarkable fact, — that even at 

 a very ancient epoch it presented the same form as in the 

 present day, but that then it attained the 78tli degree of lati- 

 tude, whilst now it does not pass the 40th degree ; even by 

 cultivation and under favourable circumstances, it cannot be 

 obtained beyond 57° N. lat. 



Besides this marsh-cy]>ress, I have also received from Spitz- 

 bergen twenty species of Conifers, amongst which are the 

 Ijranches and fruits of a new Sequoia [S. Nordensktoeldi) , 



