REVIEWS 515 



but of course not necessarily of all stages of the terranes in which they are 

 found. Erratic blocks of sandstone containing Radiolaria perhaps imply 

 the same. 



In Cambrian times, limestone with Archaeocyathinae and calcareous 

 algae are found in widely separated localities. "Huge reefs of coral and 

 algae living in association — much as the coral reefs of today, but probably 

 of even greater size — must have existed through some degrees of latitude 

 at least." "The occurrence of the Archaeocyathinae and Epiphyton on a 

 large scale in Cambrian Antarctic seas is (if any faith may be placed in 

 the principle of the elucidation of past climates by analogy with the con- 

 ditions under which the present alHed faunas of the world flourish) 

 definite proof of a fairly high temperature in the Cambrian Antarctic 

 seas" (p. 422). "Yet, it must be admitted, a comparison between Ant- 

 arctic and Australian forms of Archaeocyathinae brings to light the fact 

 that all Antarctic forms yet discovered are either embryonic or dwarfed. 

 They bear the stamp of having had to struggle for their existence in rather 

 an unsuitable environment" (p. 423). 



Respecting the climate of Silurian times, no reliable information is 

 reported. Fish identified as Devonian have been found in shales, but their 

 climatic import is not regarded as decisive, except in a rather broad sense. 



The most interesting of all Antarctic formations climatically is the 

 Beacon Sandstone, and fortunately it is the one most widely exposed in 

 South Victoria Land. It contains a relatively large quantity of woody 

 or carbonaceous matter or of imprints, including plant fossils and beds of 

 coal. These are distributed through a considerable thickness of the for- 

 mation. " The type plant of the Glossopteris flora has been discovered in 

 great abundance at the Beardmore Glacier, within a few degrees of the 

 Pole. There can be no doubt at all that, throughout a considerable por- 

 tion of this time, the climate of large regions of this part of Antarctica was 

 such as to favor the development of a relatively prolific flora, though one 

 of a t37pe which is associated in other countries with evidence of the great 

 Permo-Carboniferous glaciation" (p. 424). As is well known, Antarctica 

 is regarded by many as the original center of distribution of the Glossop- 

 teris flora. According to this view the formation in Antarctica was at 

 least as early as the glacial formations of Australia, India, South Africa, 

 and South America, which also contain the flora. 



An ample Jurassic flora was found by the Swedish Antarctic Expedi- 

 tion at Hope Bay in West Antarctica and identified by Gunnar Anderson 

 and by Nathorst. From the climatological point of view, it is said the 

 collections might have been gathered on the coast of Yorkshire. 



