98 3r. S. GAED]!fEE ON THE TEETIAET 



appearance on tlie spot, than Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys may do, or even 

 than Mr. Searles Wood. The occurrence of the fauna of the Red 

 Crag, with Mediterranean species, so manj'- degrees north, would 

 dispose me to consider them as belonging to a somewhat warmer 

 climate and therefore presumably to a rather earlier period than I 

 should do if meeting with the same assemblage further south. 



This part of the country is a table-land, with mountains some 

 distance inland, from which lava streams hare issued in relatively 

 recent times. N^earer Husavik the cliffs are of basalt and volcanic 

 breccias, and to the east the plateau is composed of horizontal 

 basalts with a thick alluvial capping of loam, ready to produce a 

 bed of laterite if ever again overflowed by lava streams. 



It is impossible, from the coast-section, to form any just idea of 

 the relationship of this sedimentary formation to the Tertiary basalts ; 

 and the determination of its precise age cannot, unfortunately, at 

 present throw an}^ light upon their history, thongh presenting a 

 problem of great independent interest. 



Coal is said to occur near the base of the mountains on the opposite 

 side of the bay, facing Husavik ; and as these do not present a 

 basaltic contour, they might be worth investigation. 



Tjaenie ("short lakes"). 



About 25 miles due south of Akreyri is a valley the sides of which, 

 about 2000 feet high, are composed of basalt, scarcely intersected 

 by any dykes. The coal reported to be found here proved to be 

 obsidian. The rhyolitic lavas overlying the basalts form a very 

 important series at this point. 



Sakdaeell (not the Sandfell marked on maps). 



This mountain is situated about 25 miles S. of the Skagafjord, 

 and 6 miles above Abaer, the nearest farmhouse, on the river 

 Eanda. The basalt is covered by a clay bed with rootlets a foot 

 thick, succeeded by brown coal passing into lignite, another foot, 

 and then 150 feet of volcanic breccia, with large blocks of basalt 

 imbedded towards the base. There are then 30 feet of pale tuffs, 

 and a band of pitchstone decomposed into vertical needles overlain 

 by pink and ivory-coloured banded rhyolites, and finally basalt. 

 This section is at the angle of the two valleys formed by the rivers 

 Tinnaa and Banda ; and, looking up the former, the pitchstone band 

 is conspicuous between the lighter masses for at least a mile, being 

 on the right hand at an elevation of about 600 feet, and at least 800 

 or 900 on the left. Up the Banda the lignite thickens to 3 feet. 



Well-preserved leaves have been obtained from the yellow tuff, 

 and are now in the University Museum at Copenhagen. Though 

 I searched diligently, I was not fortunate enough to discover any 

 bed with fossils worth bringing away. At the corner of the Tinnaa 

 are magnificent groups of columnar basalts, bent in many directions, 

 and twice fanning out like the clam-shell cave at Staffa. Some 

 fallen segments measured 3 and 4 feet in diameter. The pale- 



