March 13, 1884] 



NATURE 



455 



Sound and Point Barrow. The Vega stopped at Port 

 Clarence, and M. Kjellman added to the 242 formerly 

 known species about 45 new ones for this locality, one of 

 which — Draba palatideriaiia — is a new species. 



M. Oscar Nordquist contributes, under the title of 

 " Remarks and Studies on the Mammifers of the Coasts 

 of the Siberian Polar Sea," an elaborate paper, the result 

 of the observations made during the cruise, as well as of 

 his studies at the museums of St. Petersburg, Stockholm, 

 and Copenhagen. The North Siberian coast is very 

 poor in mammals, only twenty-nine species altogether 

 being known from the whole of the region ; moreover, 

 seven of them inhabit the sea, to which number si.\ or 

 seven species of whales ought to be added. Of the twenty 

 species of mammals inhabiting the northern coast region, 

 only seventeen or eighteen belong exclusively to the coast 

 region, and do not penetrate into the forest region. No 

 distinct zoological regions can be established on this wide 

 space; it can only be said that the fauna of the Behring 

 region has some marked differences (especially with re- 

 gard to its birds) from^ that of the western parts of the 

 littoral, and especially of the coasts of the Karian Sea. 

 The most characteristic mammal from Behring Sound 

 is Phoca fasciata, and Odvbicniis rosiiiariis, var. obesiis, 

 from the seas north of Behring Strait. The variety 

 largha of Phoca vitulina does not penetrate north of 

 the Strait. The Chukche peninsula has a few mam- 

 mals and many birds characteristic of it, namely, 

 Spi'niwp/n/i/s parryi, Lagoiiiys 'hyperboro'iis, Lcpi/s tiin- 

 idtti, var. chiikclioruin, and Arvicola kamcliatika. The 

 other parts of the littoral have no special characteristic 

 mammals of their own, and Phoca fcvtida, Phoca bar- 

 bata, and the ice bear, e.\tend from the Ugrian Strait to 

 the utmost eastern e.xtremity of Asia. The most common 

 mammals throughout the Siberian sea coast are Caiiis 

 lagopiis, C. wipes, and C. lupus, Ratigifer laraiuhis, 

 yiyodes obensis, Caniculus torquatus, two species of Arvi- 

 cola described by M. Polakoff under the names of A. 

 iiiiddeiidorffii and A. nordenskjoldii, and the hare (pro- 

 bably its Kamchatka variety). The author mentions also 

 the interesting periodical migrations, not only of the 

 reindeer (well known from Wrangel's descriptions), but 

 also of Myodes obensis and Cuniculus torquatiis, and re- 

 produces a little-known Russian paper, by AI. Argentoff, 

 dealing with the migrations of mammals in North- 

 Eastern Siberia. This general sketch is followed by the 

 descriptions of the North Siberian mammals, with plates 

 figuring the skulls of Lepus chukchoruin, Odobcemis 

 obesus, and Phoca fascia/a. 



The same volume contains a most valuable contribu- 

 tion to the fossil flora of Japan, by M. Nathorst, the 

 well-known Swedish palaeontologist, to whom we are 

 already indebted for so many researches into the Qua- 

 ternary flora of Europe. It is known from Nordenskjold's 

 general report that the Vega Expedition discovered — em- 

 bedded in volcanic ashes at Mogi, close by Nagasaki— 

 a very rich collection of plants belonging to the most 

 recent Tertiary or to the earlier Quaternary period. This 

 find was the more precious, as our knowledge of the 

 fossil flora of Japan was exceedingly meagre. We knew 

 from Japan only Jurassic plants, quite like those of 

 Eastern Siberia, with but very few exceptions, like the 

 Podozatnites reiini. Besides, Reiss, to whom we were 

 indebted for these plants, had brought also from " Nikawa, 

 Niphon," one fossil Tertiary plant identified with the 

 Carpinus grandis of Unger ; and ?\lr. Godfrey has men- 

 tioned that the coal beds at Kiousiou contain fossil plants, 

 probably belonging to the Chalk. If we add a collection 

 of fossil leaves at the Berlin Museum — much like those of 

 Mogi — and another collection brought in by ?ilr. Lyman, 

 and determined by Prof. Lesquereux at Columbus, 

 Ohio (the plants appear, according to bis commu- 

 nication to the author, much like the Miocene flora 

 of Sakhalin), we have enumerated all we formerly 



knew about the younger fossil flora of Japan. No wonder 

 that with such scant material the climate of Japan during 

 the Tertiary and Quaternary periods remained so little 

 known, and that Englerin his " Entwickelungsgeschichte 

 der Pflanzenwelt" arrived at the conclusion that "no 

 such changes of climate as those undergone by Europe 

 and Northern America have taken place in the Japanese 

 region since the Tertiary period." This opinion of the 

 great German botanist does not seem to be supported by 

 the discoveries of the Vega. The fossil flora at Mogi 

 shows that this southern island of Japan experienced 

 about the end of the Tertiary epoch a colder climate than 

 now ; it was covered at the sea-level with a vegetation 

 much like that of the forests which cover now only the 

 mountains of Kiousiou ; the description of these forests 

 by Rein (at Fuji-no-yama) shows that they contain a great 

 number of species identical with, or nearly akin to, those 

 which are found as fossils at Mogi. These last originate 

 from a forest which contained a great variety of trees and 

 bushes ; the most common of them was the beech, akin to 

 an American species, but as nearly akin too to the 

 present Fuji no-yama beech. There are, of course, at 

 Mogi, a few plants that are not met with now in Japan, 

 such as Ccltis nordenskjoldii, Rhus griffithsii, Liquid- 

 ainbar formosana, and perhaps Magnolia dicksoniana ; 

 but they are few, and have but a secondary meaning ; 

 only the Magnolia and the beech are .American, whilst 

 the others have their nearest relations in the Caucasus 

 and Afghanistan (as the Celtis), or on the Himalaya (as 

 the Rhus griffithsii), where we find also several other 

 Japanese species. Several species of the Mogi flora 

 have disappeared since ; however they have still near 

 relations in the flora of the Japanese highlands. Such 

 are the Juglans kjellmani, Carpinus suhcordata and j/«;av- 

 phylla, Quercus stuxbergii, Aphananthe vibuniifolia, 

 Diospyros nordquisti, Clethra maximozviczi , Fripetaleja 

 alniquisti, S or bus lesquereuxi, Rhus engleri, Acer 

 nordenskjoldii, and Ilex heeri (all new species of M. 

 Nathorstj, which have very closely allied representatives 

 in the forest vegetation of the Japanese highlands and 

 northern parts of the Japanese archipelago. At the same 

 time the more southern forms which make a constituent 

 part of the present flora of Japan are absolutely missing 

 in the fossil flora of Mogi. M. Nathorst concludes, 

 therefore, that this last shows undoubtedly a colder 

 climate than that enjoyed now by Japan. As to its age 

 it might be either younger Pliocene or Glacial, or post- 

 Glacial ; but its characters would exclude both the latter, 

 and thus we must admit that it belongs to the younger 

 Pliocene ; but it would be impossible, until further re- 

 searches are made, to determine its age with more 

 precision. 



M. Nathorst points out also that the Miocene flora of 

 Sakhalin, situated iS° of latitude to the north of Mogi, 

 testifies to a much warmer climate, whilst that of Alaska, 

 of the same period, situated, however, 9° more to the 

 north, scarcely corresponds to a colder climate. The 

 Miocene flora of Japan ought to have been therefore 

 still more diitcrent from that of Mogi, and M. Nathorst 

 concludes that the fossil flora of Mogi is a sure testimony 

 of the extension of a colder climate, before and during 

 the Ice period, throughout the whole of the northern 

 hemisphere, and that this colder climate could not depend 

 on those local conditions which were resorted to for 

 Europe and Northern America. We may add to this 

 conclusion that a considerable lowering of temperature 

 throughout Northern Asia is proved also by the unmis- 

 takable traces of glaciation found, not only in the deep 

 valleys of the Olekma highlands, but also on the southern 

 slope of the Sayan Mountains, close by Lake Kossogol. 

 Though received at first with some distrust, the glacia- 

 tion at least of the highlands of the Thian-Shan, the Sayan, 

 and Stanovoy Mountains has since been confirmed by so 

 many testimonies that there can be no more doubt about 



