ESMARK : MOLLUSCA OF NORWAY. 95 



' The coldest tracts of Norway, where the mean temperature 

 of the year is below o° is found in the highest parts of the 

 mountains and the interior of Finmarken. Close to the sea it 

 is only in the Varangerfjord that the mean temperature of the 

 year is below o°. The outer coast-line from Lister to Sognefjord 

 has the highest mean temperature of the year. The inland 

 part of the south of Norway and Finmarken has the longest 

 winter and the lowest mean temperature of winter, as the cold- 

 est day and night is below -^ 10°. From the interior part of the 

 country towards the coast it always becomes gradually milder 

 in winter. From the Throndhjemsfjord there is a long strip of 

 the coast going southwards towards Lister, where the mean 

 temperature day and night is above o°. 



Summer is warmest in the south-eastern parts and in the 

 inner parts of Sognefjorden. It is colder on the coast and 

 higher up in the heart of the country. It is coldest on the 

 coast of Finmarken and on the mountain tops. The inner part 

 of Finmarken has a warmer summer than the whole above-stated 

 strip of the coast north of Skudesnaes. 



As inland there is a warm summer and cold winter, and 

 on the coast a coldish summer and a mild winter, the greatest 

 change of temperature in the course of the year is to be found 

 in the interior of the country (above 30° in Karasjok and above 

 25° in the south of Norway), whilst the least change is to be 

 found on the coast of Romsdalen (only 11°). In QEsterdalen 

 and in the inner part of Finmarken the mercury freezes -^40"^ 

 (in Karasjok -^^o'S). On the outer strip of the coast from 

 Romsdalen to the island of Utsire the cold is never stronger 

 than -^9^ to -=-ii°. In the south-eastern parts of the country, 

 in Sogndal and the interior of Finmarken there may be -1-30°, 

 but on the outermost islands of the western coasts never 

 above 25^. 



Norway is chiefly a mountainous country, consisting of 

 primitive rocks, slates and schists, eruptives, and the Silurian 

 formation. The Gneiss and hornblende-schist extend along the 



