Fossil Floras of the Arctic Regions. 219 



night, is without doubt the reason which has led some scientists to 

 evade the question, instead of seeking to solve it. It is indeed 

 a case of evading the question when it is boldly asserted that the 

 plant-remains, on which Heer l has based his theories of ancient 

 Arctic climates, have been drifted by marine currents to the places 

 where they have been found. 



It is not to be disputed that plant debris may be transported in 

 water for a very great distance without being damaged, provided that 

 they are carried at a sufficient depth to escape the influence of the 

 movements of the surface layers of the water. When Agassiz was 

 engaged in dredging on the American coasts, he found that the bottom 

 of the sea — sometimes to a depth of nearly 3,000 metres — was covered 

 with plant debris, such as wood, branches, leaves, seeds, and fruits, 

 in all stages of decay. Also, in certain places, these remains were 

 still fairly abundant at a distance of 1,100 - 1,200 kilometres from 

 the shore. This distance corresponds to about 10 degrees of latitude. 

 It is thus proved that the remains of plants may be transported for 

 very considerable distances. But this is true only of marine deposits. 

 If we are concerned with freshwater sediments, the example given 

 has no bearing on the case. 



One might, however, reasonably suppose that a river, flowing in 

 the direction of the meridian from south to north, might have carried 

 from the southern regions leaves and other fragments of vegetation 

 which became buried in some deposit of the stream itself, or of a lake, 

 which it traversed, or of its delta. This is a possibility which must 

 not be neglected, but on the other hand it must not be treated as 

 though it were au ascertained fact, since we do not know how far it 

 applies to the case in point. 



The fact is, it is puerile to attempt to draw conclusions as to the 

 ancient climates of the Arctic regions, before the nature of the 

 deposits in which the fossil plants have been found has been 

 ascertained. It is especially important that an attempt should be 

 made to answer the question, did the plants once flourish in the 

 neighbourhood of the deposits in which they are found, or were they 

 transported from far-away lands? It is this question which an 

 attempt will here be made to solve, by furnishing a concise resume of 

 the principal beds containing fossil plants in the Arctic regions. 



In Bear Island, 2 and in Ellesmere Land, 3 beds extremely rich in 

 plant- remains are met with belonging to the Devonian system. The 

 fossil plants of Bear Island occur in the series of beds which also 

 include several seams of coal. Beneath the coal, which is composed 

 essentially of the bark and trunks of Bothrodendron, one finds, as 

 elsewhere, bituminous schists containing roots, and from this one 

 can show that the plants of which we speak flourished, at least in 

 part, in situ. This is likewise proved by the actual nature of the 

 plants, as much in the older beds with Arclmopteris fmbriata, Nath., 



1 O. Heer, Flora fossilis arctica, vols, i-vii, 1868-83. 



2 A. G-. Nathorst, " Zur Oberdevonischen Flora cler Baren Insel " : Kongl. 

 Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., vol. xxxi, No. 3, 1902. 



3 Id., " Die Oberdevoniscke Flora des Ellesmere Landes " : Rep. 2nd Norweg. 

 Arctic Exped. in tke Fram, vol. i ; Ckristiania, 1904. 



