Notices of Memoirs — Fossil Floras of the Arctic Regions. 217 



the boundary between the Pleistocene and Pliocene deposits. This 

 error was soon afterwards justly corrected by Suzuki and later more 

 effectually by Tokunaga. 



Of more importance to the discussion is the boundary between the 

 JSarita and Tokyo Series, which was once exposed very favourably 

 in the sand ditches along the Owu line at Tabata. The marked 

 difference of lithological characters between the two consecutive beds 

 above and below the boundary-line made the unconformity very 

 striking. 



At that time I was inclined to take it as an evidence of time- 

 interval between two deposits; the new discovery of the shell-sand, 

 which is the main subject of the present article, however, entirely 

 deprived me of any confidence in this previous supposition. As 

 mentioned above, we see now at Tabata, on one side the regular 

 downward succession of sandy gravel bed and sand-bed which locally 

 passes to argillaceous sand, arenaceous clay, and the shell-sand with 

 the characteristic transitional fauna between the Oji and Narita fauna, 

 and on the other hand likewise quite a regular succession of the 

 deposits of the Tokyo Series, namely, in ascending order (A) the 

 principal shell-bed of Oji and Shinagawa, (l>) sand and clay beds of 

 an estuarine formation. These estuarine deposits of the Tokyo Series 

 lie on the same level as, and in close proximity to, the sand-bed 

 which is the direct continuation of the shell- sand above mentioned. 

 The detailed local researches of Mr. Yamakawa and myself have 

 clearly revealed the total absence of any indication of a stratigraphical 

 break between them. We are therefore obliged to conclude that the 

 variation of sediments is only a local phenomenon and that their 

 deposition took place side by side at the same time. Consequently, 

 the apparent unconformity between the Narita and Tokyo Series must 

 also be regarded as only of minor geological importance. 



NOTICES OF DyLEDVi:OIE.S- 



On" the Yalue of the Fossil Floras of the Arctic Regions as 



Evidence of Geological Climates. 1 



By Professor A. G. Nathorst, Hon. Sc.D. Camb., of Stockholm. 



Translated from the French original 2 by E. A. Newell Arber, M.A., F.G.S- 



AMONG- the problems which are constantly called to mind during 

 geological explorations in the Arctic regions, that of the climates 

 of the past naturally demands special attention. The contrast between 

 the present and the past is there more striking than in any other 

 region. Beneath the snow and ice bordering the Arctic sea, one 

 marvels to find, for example, large corals in beds belonging to the 



1 A paper read before the Eleventh International Geological Congress on 

 August 25, 1910. " Sur la valeur des flores fossiles des regions arctiques comme 

 preuve des climats geologiques," Stockholm, 1910. Also in Compt. Kend. 

 Eleventh Intern. Geol. Congr., Stockholm, 1911. 



2 The English translation has been revised by Professor Nathorst, and 

 references added. 



