Revieics — Dr. Nathorst — Arctic Pakeozic Plants. 473 

 IV. — ZuR Palaozoischen Flora der Arktischen Zone, ent- 



HALTEND DIE AUE SpITZBERGEN, AUF DER BaREN-InSEL, TJND 

 AUP NOVAJA ZemLJA VON DEN SoHWEDISCHEN ExPEDITIONEN 



ENTDEOKTEN Palaozoischen Pflanzen. Von A. G. Nathorst. 

 Mit 16 Tafeln. Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Hand- 

 lingar. Bandet 26, No. 4, pp. 80. (Stockholm, 1894.) 



On the Paleozoic Flora of the Arotio Zone, comprising the 

 PALiEozoic Plants Discovered by the Swedish Expeditions 

 on Spitzbergen, Bear Island, and Novaya Zemlya. By Dr. 

 A. G. Nathorst. 



THE occurrence in Spitzbergen of plant remains of PalEeozoic age 

 was first made known by Koberts in 1838 ; several subsequent 

 Swedish geological expeditions also obtained them, both from Spitz- 

 bergen and from Bear Island, and the collections were described by 

 the late Professor Heer. The last Swedish expedition, in 1882, 

 under the leadership of Nathorst and de Geer, discovered Carbon- 

 iferous plants in several new localities in Spitzbergen, and also for 

 the first time they found plant remains in the Devonian rocks of 

 Liefde Bay. They further ascertained that the true position of the 

 Carboniferous plant-bearing strata of Roberts' valley, which had 

 been described as above the marine Permo-Carboniferous formation, 

 was beneath this series, its apparent position being due to an 

 inversion of the beds. The present Memoir contains descriptions 

 and figures not only of the newly-discovered plants, but of those 

 previousl}'^ collected and worked out by Heer, the originals of which, 

 now preserved in the Stockholm Museum, have been revised by 

 Dr. Nathorst, with the result that many are shown to belong to 

 quite other groups than those in which Heer had placed them. 



Taking first the plants from the Devonian or Old Eed Sandstone 

 rocks of the Liefde Bay series of Spitzbergen, it appears that they 

 occur on two horizons — a lower, in which only fragmentary remains 

 of a form resembling the Psilopliyton of Dawson have been found ; 

 and a higher containing remains of Lepidodendron, Bergeria, and 

 Bothrodendron, and also the leaves of a probable Gymnosperm, 

 named Psygmophyllum Williamsoni. The plants are too fragmentary 

 to be compared with the Devonian of other regions, but they show 

 a relationship to the succeeding Lower Carboniferous flora. 



The stratigraphical relations of the beds yielding the Carboniferous 

 plants on Spitzbergen have not yet been satisfactorily determined. 

 It is certain that they are below the marine Permo-Carboniferous 

 series, but hitherto the existence of the Carboniferous Limestone has 

 not definitely been made out, though it is possible that it may be 

 represented by the Cyathophyllum-limestone. The new forms from 

 the Carboniferous include species of Sphenopteris, Cardiopteris, and 

 Lepidodendron. The forms described by Heer as Cordaites and as 

 leaves of BhyncJiogonium are considered by Nathorst to be unusually 

 large stems of fern fronds. A comparison of these Carboniferous 

 plants with those from other areas shows a very close resemblance 

 with the flora of the Culm and that of the Bergkalk on the continent, 



