THE JOURNEY SOUTHWARD 5^3 



to the Asplcuiiini {Pctrusc/iiiicuse), wliicli Heer has de- 

 scribed, found in the Siberian Jurassic strata. The speci- 

 men is remarkable from the fact tliat the epidermis cells 

 of the leaf have left a clear impression on the rock. 



'' With its wealth of pine leaves, its poverty of ferns, 

 and its lack of Cvcadacca\ this Franz Josef Land flora has 

 somewhat the same character as that of the Upper Juras- 

 sic flora of Spitzbergen, although the species are some- 

 what different. Like the Spitzbergen tiora, it does not 

 indicate a particularly genial climate, although doubtless 

 enormously more so than that of the present day. The 

 deposits must doubtless have occurred in the neighbor- 

 hood of a pine forest. So far as the specimens enable 

 one to judge, the flora seems to belong rather to the 

 Upper (White) Jurassic system than to the Middle 

 (Brown) system." 



It was undeniably a sudden transition to come straight 

 from our long inert life in our winter lair, where one's 

 scientific interests found little enough stimulus, right 

 into the midst of this scientific oasis, where there was 

 plenty of opportunity for work, where books and all nec- 

 essary apparatus were at hand, and where one could em- 

 ploy one's leisure moments in discussing with men of 

 similar tastes all sorts of scientific questions connected 

 with the Arctic zone. l\\ the botanist of the expedition, 

 Mr. Harry Fisher, I found a man full of the warmest in- 

 terest in the fauna and fiora of the polar regions, and the 



