16 



limits of the polar circle occur in the pleistocene beds 

 of the valley of the Thames and of the Avon. In France 

 and Germany they are associated with the mammoth and 

 the woolly rhinoceros. On the other hand an elephant 

 and rhinoceros have been found at Grays in Essex, 

 together with a shell, Cyrena fluminiaUs, Moll, 

 now extinct in Europe, but to be met with in the Nile 

 and some Asiatic rivers. The fossil plants of Atane- 

 kerdluk, in the Waigate, near Disco, give a most 

 valuable insight into the nature of the vegetation which 

 formed a forest of this age. Captain Ingelfield observed 

 a trunk standing upright surrounded by a closely 

 packed mass of leaves, fruits, and seeds, all in good 

 condition, shewing that they had not been drifted from 

 any great distance. Many of the species have their 

 living representatives ten or twelve degrees below Atane- 

 kerdluk. Mc'Clure found a large accumulation of 

 trees ranging from the sea-level to an elevation of 

 upwards of three hundred feet. A cone of one of these 

 trees was brought and found to be an Abies resembling 

 A. alba. A very different climate to the present must 

 have then existed to sanction the growth of conifers. 

 Captain Belcher brought an Abies alba, Moll, from 

 near the narrow strait opening into Wellington Sound, 

 70 32 ' N. lat., 92 W. long. The late Sir William 

 Hooker observed a difference of structure from any 

 conifer with which, in his large experience, he was 

 acquainted, and considered the peculiar condition of 

 an exceedingly cold seasonal climate, where a few short 

 hours of sun succeeded by many of its absence would 



