724 COL. H. W. FEILDEN ON THE GLACIAL GEOLOGY [Nov. T896, 



Our boat ran up this rock as over a sand-beach, while both below 

 and above the tide-mark the rock is so grooved with glacial striae 

 that it looks as if they had been made by the keels of boats hauled 

 over sand which had subsequently indurated, while in reality it is 

 a very hard quartz-schist. This island is girdled in part by a series 

 of old beaches rising one above the other to a height of not less 

 than 100 feet. The highest that I traced looks like a line of ancient 

 fortification. This is due to the accumulation of peat which has 

 spread over it, and which, sloping towards the sea, is on the land-side 

 in many places perpendicular. Where runnels have cut through 

 this terrace the ancient beach is exposed ; in it are fragments of 

 nullipores identical with the remains that are piled up along the 

 shore at present sea-level, and these at a little distance look like 

 accumulations of magnified grains of sago. The presence of the 

 remains of this nullipore in the higher terraces effectually disposes 

 of the theory that these beaches might have been the result of 

 interglacial damming. 



The remarkable and extensive series of terraces on both sides 

 of the Varanger Fiord, which separates Norway from Russian terri- 

 tory, are well known. My friend Prof. Alfred Newton, who visited 

 the Yaranger forty years ago, kindly gave me the following note 

 from his journal and that of Mr. W. H. Hudleston, his companion. 

 They were journeying along the northern side of the fiord, not 

 far from Yadso. He writes * : — ' We continued our walk along a 

 raised beach about 50 feet above high water and 200 yards from 

 the shore, where lay the bones of a whale that had probably been 

 stranded there in old times. Each of the whale's vertebrae was 

 covered with turf. We scratched the ground in places and found 

 ribs, but I do not remember that we found the head.' 



On the little island of Vardo, on which the town is built, and near 

 the fort from which the island takes its name, is a marine sand- 

 deposit some 40 to 50 feet above sea-level. I lately took from this 

 spot remains of seal, 2 cetaceans, fishes, and mollusca. I might easily 

 enlarge the list of localities in Arctic Norway which I have visited, 

 and where similar proofs of recent elevation are to be met with : 

 but I think that I have conclusively shown the presence of 

 marine organisms throughout the raised beaches of Arctic Norway, 

 and consequently their marine origin. 



2. Terrace-making in Kolguev Island. 



On former occasions 3 I have pointed out the part which the ice- 

 foot performs in the formation of terraces in Polar regions. I observed 



1 Alfred Newton, in litt. 1895. 



2 Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., F.G.S., very kindly identified these specimens 

 brought from the raised beach at Vardo as belonging to Halichcerus gryphus 

 (Grey Seal), Phoca hispida (Floe Rat), Gadus morrkua, with Buccinum undatum, 

 Modiola modiolus, and Pecten islandicus. 



3 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, vol. xx. (1877) p. 487 ; Nares, < Voy. to 

 Polar Sea,' 1878, vol. ii. pp. 841-342; Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxiv. 

 (1878) p. 565. 



