182 THE ANTARCTIC. 



being the only spot in the Antarctic regions in which for 

 the first and only time palaeontological remains have been 

 found. Larsen brought away petrifactions on his first 

 visit which were evidently not found in their original 

 resting-place, for they w T ere already partly worn by 

 weather and friction. The English geologists found 

 that of seven shells of molluscs found here five belono- 

 to the genus Cucullsa and one Cytherea, both shells. 

 Two pieces of silicated conifers were also found. 



Larsen's second visit affords a more detailed account 

 of the configuration of the island which was traversed 

 not only by himself with two companions, but by a second 

 party. He describes the surface as hilly, about 300 feet 

 high — as far as he was able to judge — and intersected by 

 valleys. Of the elevations some are cone-shaped, and 

 appear to be small eruptive cones, built up of ashes and 

 lapilli ; no other structure can be assumed since Larsen 

 describes them as consisting of " sand, cement, and small 

 stones ". On the other hand it is very puzzling that the 

 petrified wood was found here also, occurring principally on 

 an upper level of about 300 feet above the sea ; the trunks, 

 he states, partly stood slanting in the ground. These cir- 

 cumstances recall Tasmania and Kerguelen where fossil 

 conifer wood similarly occurs bedded in basalt lava and 

 tufas, and there may be no great error in assuming that 

 analogous conditions obtain in Seymour Island. This 

 Antarctic discovery might prove to be of great importance, 

 as it goes to support the recent sharply-contested hypo- 

 thesis that the polar regions enjoyed a far warmer climate 

 during the tertiary period. The fossil plants found in 

 Greenland have been declared to be tertiary drift-wood, 

 but this explanation of the phenomenon in Seymour Island 

 cannot be accepted. The currents could convey a deposit 

 of drift-wood only from the west through Bismarck Straits, 

 and this improbable and unsatisfactory explanation in no 

 way accounts for the slanting position described by Larsen. 



