BESSELS, NOTES ON POLARIS BAY. 553 



LXXXVI. — Notes on Polaris Bay. By Dr. Bessels.* 



From the "Bulletin dc la Soc. dc Geograpliie," Mai-ch 1875. 

 Paris, pp. 291-9. 



The geological formation of /' Polaris Bay " and its neighbour- 

 hood consists of Silurian limestone with few fossils. 



At an elevation of 1,800 feet, not only Drift-wood was found, 

 but Shells {Mya^ &c.), of species still existing in the neighbouring 

 seas. 



In small lakes, numerous in that region, were found marine 

 Crustacea living in fresh water ; and thus bearing witness to the 

 uprise of the northern coasts of Greenland. 



Erratic blocks occur in great numbers, different in charac- 

 ter from the rocks of the surface. Among them are blocks of 

 granite, gneiss, &c., derived from South Greenland, and certainly 

 not transported by glaciers, but by floating ice, showing that the 

 current in Davis' Strait was to the North formerly, and not to 

 the South as now. 



Note. — Mr. C. E. De Range, F.G.S., has lately given a 

 series of papers in Nature (Macmillan, London), vol. xi., pp. 447, 

 467, 492, and 508 (Api^il 1875), on the geological, glacial, and 

 other phenomena of the Arctic Regions. In a condensed form he 

 here presents what is known of the Ice of Greenland, the Cryolite, 

 the Cretaceous and Miocene formations of Mid-Greenland, the 

 geology of East Greenland, and the Ovifak Meteorites. The 

 geology of the Arctic-American Ai^chipelago and of Grinnell 

 Land (Hayes, &c.), the glacial conditions and geology of Spitz- 

 bergen and Bear Island, the extent of the Carboniferous deposits 

 in N.-W. America, and the former continental areas, are also 

 treated of. Lastly, some remarks are offered on the homotaxeous 

 relationship of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Green- 

 land with those of other countries. 



* For some other notes on the results of the Voyage of the " Polaris," see 

 above, pages 321-3. 



