Natural Uistorij of East Finmarh. 347 



*' Gaisa " * system. It consists of two series — an upper, whicli 

 is continued from tlie North Cape along the East Finmark 

 coast as far as the Tana Fiord; and a lower series, commencin;^ 

 on the eastern side of the Tana Fiord and extenliajr thence 

 to Nord varan o-er. The " Gaisa " system is composed of con- 

 glomerates embracing lumps of sandstone, quartz, granite, 

 dolomite, &c. Up to the time of my visit all attempts to fiiiJ 

 embedded fossils in the fragments of these conglomerate rocks, 

 and thus obtain a clue to their age, had been unavailing. A 

 beautilul section of these rocks was seen from the steamer as we 

 passed Kjolle and Ox Fiords, the strata presenting layers of 

 very varied and lovely colouring. The geological formation at 

 Vadso and the northern shores of the Varanger Fiord consists 

 of " Gaisa," with some glacial deposits here and there along 

 the shore ; but on crossing the fiord to Sydvaranger this inter- 

 esting formation is left behind and the rocks are again igneous. 

 This geological change, of course, cannot be without exhibiting 

 effects on the flora and perhaps also on the fauna of the fiords. 

 The chief factor, however, whicli influences the fauna of 

 East Finmark consists in the diff'erence of climate. West 

 Finmark, up to the North Cape and beyond it, is indebted to 

 the influence of tlie Gulf Stream for a temperature all through 

 the winter months which keeps the sea free from ice. The 

 climatic conditions of the Varanger Fiord are, however, very 

 difl'erent, and the smaller fiords, such as those of Sydvaranger, 

 where my dredging was chiefly carried on, are completely 

 frozen over from December or January to the middle of May 

 or into June, the ice attaining a thickness of 2 to o feet. As 

 a necessary consequence the fauna of the Varanger Fiord and 

 of the other fiords of that district is of more arctic character 

 than that round the North Cape, although in latitude the 

 latter is somewhat more northern. In the summer months 

 the difference of temperature is evidenced by the dense fogs 

 which are commonly met with off the coast of East Finmark, 

 and which are the result of contact of the warm air coming 

 from the west with the cold currents passing westward from 

 the Kara Sea. It was in one of these fogs, during which we 

 had to lie to for twenty-seven hours, that while other 

 passengers were filling great tubs with the cod which so 

 freely took the bait, I employed ray time iu casting from the 

 deck of the steamer a little hand-dredge off the mouth of 

 Laksefjord, and thus obtained animals some of which arc 

 recorded as from that locality iu the following notes. 



* Gaisa, the uamo of a mouutaiu iu tlie Porsanger district.' 



