HEER, MIOCENE FLORA OF GREENLAND, 371 



Europe drawn by him on a former occasion. It is quite impossible 

 that the trees found at Atanekerdluk could ever have flourished 

 there if the temperature were not far higher than it is at present. 

 This is clear, first, from many of the species, of which we find the 

 nearest living representatives 10° or even 20° of latitude to the 

 south of the locality in question. Some of the species are quite 

 peculiar, and their relationship to other forms is as yet in doubt. 

 Of these- the most important are a Daphnogene {D. Kanii) the 

 genus Macclintockia^ and a Zamites.* The Daphnogene had large 

 thick leathery leaves, and was probably evergreen. Macclintockia, 

 a new genus, comprises certain specimens belonging perhaps to 

 the family of the Proteacece. The Zamites is also new. Inas- 

 much as we know no existing analogues for these plants we 

 cannot draw accurate conclusions as to the climatal conditions in 

 which they flourished. It is, however, quite certain that they 

 never could have borne a low temperature. 



If, now, we look at those species which we may consider as 

 possessing living representatives, we shall find that on an average 

 the highest limit attainable by them, even under artificial 

 culture, lies at least 12° to the southward. This, however, does 

 not give a fair view of the circumstances of the case. The trees 

 at Atanekerdluk were not all at the extreme northern limit of 

 their growth. This may have been the case with some of the 

 species ; others, however, extended much further north, for in the 

 Miocene Flora of Spitzbergen, lat. 78° N., we find the Beech, Plane, 

 Hazel, a Poplar {Populus Richardsoiii), a Fir, and the Taxodium 

 of Greenland ; and in lat. 79° N., a Lime and Populus arctica. 

 For the opportunity of examining these specimens I am in- 

 debted to Professor Nordenskiold. At the present time the Firs 

 and Poplai's reach to a latitude 15° above the artificial limit of the 

 Plane, and 10° above that of the Beech. Accordingly we may 

 conclude that the Firs and Poplars which we meet at Atanekerdluk 

 and at Bell Sound, Spitzbergen, must have reached up towards the 

 North Pole so far as there was land there in the Tertiary 

 Period. The hills of fossilised wood found by M^Clure and his 

 companions in Banks' Land (lat. 74° 27' N.) are therefore dis- 

 coveries which should not astonish us ; they only confirm the 

 evidence as to the original vegetation of the Polar regions, 

 which we have derived from other sources. The Professor then 

 proceeds to say that the course of reasoning which led him 

 to the conclusion that the Miocene temperature of Greenland 

 was 30° F. higher than its present temperature would be fully 

 developed in his work " On the Fossil Flora of the Polar Regions," 

 which will contain descriptions and plates of the plants discovered 

 in North Greenland, Melville Island, Banks' Land, Mackenzie 

 River, Iceland, and Spitzbergen, and which he hopes to publish at 

 an early date. 



He then selects Sequoia Langsdorffii, the most abundant of the 

 trees at Atanekerdluk, and proceeds to investigate the conclusions 

 as to climate deducible from the fact of its existence in Greenland. 



* See the more perfect list further on.— Editor. 



A A 



