Prof. E. Hull — The Norwegian Fjords. 9 



ends are commonly twisted as though they had been wrenched round 

 and bent oyer. A careful search in the overlying shale has so far 

 failed to discover the mucb-desired fruits of the Equisetum, but I do 

 not despair of finding tbem either here or at Blea Wyke. An exactly 

 similar bed may be observed at about the same height above the 

 Dogger beside the footpath descending the cliff in the re-entrant 

 angle at Blea Wyke. The erect stems are contained in a strong 

 bed of sandstone, and the flattened rhizomes occur in an underlying 

 black shale in which many well-preserved fronds of Williamsonia 

 occur. 



I am indebted to my friend Mr. J. T. Sewell, J.P., of Whitby, for 

 the following note, wliich shows that this is not the first record of 

 the occurrence of rhizomes of this Uquiseium : ^ "In one part of 

 these cliffs was pointed out a place where a bed of sandstone, high 

 up in the cliff, contains stems of reeds (correctly speaking these 

 plants appear to be allied to the Equisetacese). These are an inch or 

 more in diameter and 2 or 3 feet long, standing upright in the 

 sandstone, Avhile the shales below contain the traces of their roots." 

 I suspect that the place alluded to is near the ".Jackass Koad " at 

 Hawsker, whence the late Stephen Palmer used to obtain for me 

 what he styled " pieces of cain " (cane). 



IV. — The Physical HisTOHi' of xhk iSToewegian Fjords. 

 By Professor Edward Hull, LL.D., F.R.S., F.E.G.S. 



The Scandinavian Promontory . — This remarkable promontory, 

 extending for over a thousand miles from the Naze to the North 

 Cape, is formed mainly of Archaean rocks, consisting of gneiss, 

 crystalline schists, and other metamorphic rocks, penetrated by 

 granite and other igneous dykes of later date. These primeval 

 rocks are overlain throughout a portion of their extent by Cambrian 

 and Lower Palaeozoic (or Lower Silurian) beds, between which and 

 the Archsean masses there is entire discordancy, and, as regards their 

 respective ages, a long period of unrepresented time. The Palaeozoic 

 beds are themselves highly altered when in contact with the intrusive 

 igneous masses, so that it is difficult to distinguish them from the 

 more ancient masses in some districts. 



The older rocks are azoic, the later are fossiliferous. 



These combined masses constitute a truncated ridge or plateau of 

 rocks all rising into their highest elevations^ towards the Atlantic 

 coast and breaking off abruptly in stupendous cliffs traversed by 

 deep and narrow channels, down which streams rising in the central 

 snowfields pour their waters into the Atlantic ; while in the other 

 direction the general surface slopes down with a more gentle 

 declivity towards the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic 

 Sea. In consequence of this conformation of the surface the river 



' Eeport by Sir Charles Strickland, Bart., of an Excursion by Tug-boat from 

 Whitby to Peak of members of the Brit. Assoc. (York Meeting) : Eeport of the 

 Whitby Lit. and Phil. Soc, October 28, 1881. 



* Snehsetta reaches 7,615 and Galdhopiggen 8,399 feet. 



