298 



of the coast was overflowed by enormous streams of water. These 

 deposited, in times when the sea-level was higher, the masses 

 of sand and gravel of which the present terraces consist». 



It is reasonable to make a comparison between the 

 above mentioned layer at Orpigsuit and the so-called Zirphaea- 

 layers in the northern Jutland (Vendsyssel), deposited at the 

 end of the glacial time when the temperature of the sea in- 

 creased and Yoldia arctica had become extinct. There is in 

 both localities a typical coast-formation consisting of coarse 

 sand or gravel with a littoral fauna of a cold temperate cha- 

 racter. In the Zirphaea- layer in Vendsyssel Mytilus edulis is, 

 as at Orpigsuit, the fossil that occurs most generally and in 

 greatest numbers. Sometimes it forms whole layers. The other 

 predominant forms are the following ones: Cyprina islandica, 

 Tellina calcaria, Tellina balthica, Mya truncata, Saxicava 

 arctica, Zirphaea crispata, Littorina rudis, Buccinum undatum 

 and Balanus sp.^). Though we only have a small casual sample 

 at hand from Orpigsuit the great ressemblance in the com- 

 position of the faunas will immediately strike the attention, Cy- 

 prina and Buccinum excepted it is the same species which occur. 



Such a parallel has, indeed, been drawn before, namely by 

 K. J. V. Steenstrup who during his journeys in Greenland has 

 investigated several raised beaches. Among the fossiliferous 

 beaches he attributes a special interest to Ungorsivik at the 

 mouth of the Disco-Fjord. About this locaUty he writes as 

 follows ^): "With regard to Cngorsivik it is evident that two kinds 

 of raised sea-beds exist here, an older which reaches a height 

 of ca. 20 feet and which is characterized by Saxicava rugosa'^) 

 and a younger which only reaches a very little above the ordi- 



') Comp. A. Jessen : Danmarks geologiske Undersøgelse, I. Række, Nr. 3, 

 1S99 (p. 213—232). 



2) Medd. om Grønland, IV, 1883, p. 232. 



^) The fossil that most frequently occur in the Yoldica-clay in Vend- 

 syssel is not Yoldia arctica, but Saxicava arctica {= S. rugosa). 



