430 PROF. NORDENSKIOLB, EXPEDITION TO GREENLAND. 



the same Flora, the character of which is marked * by numerous 

 Ferns, among which the GleichenicB (^GleicJienia Riiikiana, Zippeiy 

 Gieseckiand) play the chief part ; by a remarkable Cycad {Zamiies 

 arctica), magnificent leaves of which are found ; by a large 

 number of Conifers (Pi7ius Crameri, Sequoia Reichenbachii, 

 Widdringtonia gracilis, etc.) ; and, in addition to this, by the 

 almost total absence of Dicotyledons. The fine new discoveries 

 tend to confirm my opinion, already expressed,f that this Flora 

 belongs to the Lower Cretaceous, in all probability to the 

 Urgonian stage. This is particularly shown by the beautiful 

 Cycad, Glossozamites Hoheneggeri[^\ discovered at Kome. The 

 Greenland collections contain many specimens which resemble 

 the plants from Wernsdorff, belonging to the Urgonian, and 

 have exactly the same character as those from Kome. Among 

 the most remarkable new species from the Greenland Lower 

 Cretaceous, a fine Tceniopteris, n. sp., an Adiantum (both from 

 Avkrusak), and an elegant new Sequoia from Pattorfik, deserve 

 special mention." See the Lists, ahove^ pp. 386, &c. 



II. — The Atane strata (Upper Cretaceous, according to Heer). 



These strata occur on the south side of the Noursoak Peninsula, 

 between Atanekerdluk and Atane, and probably also farther on 

 towards the north on the eastern side of the Waigat. Some few, 

 and not clearly determinable, vegetable remains from Kome (750- 

 1,100 feet above the sea), and from the strata situated nearest the 

 sea-level at Kudliset J (Ritenbenk's coal-mine), probably belong to 

 this formation, which contains more shale than either the subjacent 

 Cretaceous strata or the superimposed Miocene beds, besides sand 

 and soft sandstone, but no limestone. The thickest coal-beds 

 in Greenland — as well those at Atane (the richest I have seen in 

 Greenland) as those near the sea-level at Ipiit, and probably also 

 those 750 feet above the sea at Kome — belong to this period. 

 This is also probably the case with the strata inclosing retinite 

 (not amber) at Hare Island. Small nodules of resin, however, 

 occur in the Greenland Miocene. 



Fig. 10 



Fig. 10.— Lower series of strata at Atanekerdluk ("Lower Atanekerdluk," 



Heer). 



* For the later determinations of these characteristic Plants, see Prof. 

 Heer's Lists in his " Kreideflora," &c., reprinted above, paffes 386, &c. — 

 Editok. 



t Heer's « Flora fossilis arctica." 



X The upper strata in the neighbourhood of Kudliset are Miocene. 



