TRIASSIC. 547 



The Danish expeditions of 1898 and 1900 reported numerous fossils including 

 many ammonites and others of Jurassic or Cretaceous age. Fossils comprising 

 plant remains of Rhaetic or Liassic age, and marine fossils of various divisions of 

 the European Jurassic are cited by Skeat. The principal occurrences of the Jurassic 

 are assigned to the Callovian. A clearly older fauna occurs at Mount Nathorst, 

 which is probably of upper Bajocian or lower Bathonian age. 



In Jameson's Land there is evidence of the white Jura or Upper Jurassic, 

 approximately of upper Kimeridge or Portland age. Of the Triassic of this region 

 Nathorst™'' writes: 



It is supposed that Rhaetic layers may possibly be present at Falsche Bay, mentioned 

 above, from which locality Payer brought home a piece of sandstone with RTiynchonella jissicos- 

 tata Suess. * * * 



One of the most important geological results of the Danish expedition was the announce- 

 ment that rocks belonging to the Rhsetic and Jurassic system occur on the west side of Hurry 

 Inlet from Cape Stewart northward. They are the same rocks that Jameson referred to the 

 Carboniferous. 



At Cape Stewart the lowest layers are Rhsetic, consisting of a gray, somewhat sandy clay 

 slate that in certain beds is quite rich in fossil plants. It is supposed to be underlain by a 

 greenish sandstone and is thought to be at least 45 to 55 meters thick. The fossil plants are 

 described by N. Hartz, who has called attention to their Rhsetic age. Several of these are to be 

 found in the coal-bearing beds of Skone, Sweden. As characteristic may be mentioned Clado- 

 fhlebis roesserti Presl. sp. var. groenlandica, Equisetum munsteri Sternb. sp., Pterophyllum subse- 

 quale Hartz, Podozamites lanceolatus Lindl. sp., and schenkii Hr., Gzekanowskia rigida Hr. and 

 setacea Hr., Stachyotaxus septentrionalis Agardh sp., besides others. 



(See also R-S 27, Chapter XIII, pp. 577-578.) 



T 11, 13-16. ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO. 



Low °^°' summarizes the available information regarding the Mesozoic of the 

 Arctic Archipelago : 



The discovery of the Sverdrup group of islands has greatly extended our knowledge of the 

 Mesozoic rocks of the Arctic basin. The Franklin search parties discovered rocks of this age 

 on the northern shores of the Parry Islands ; at Point Wilkie, in Prince Patrick Island ; Rendez- 

 vous Hill, near the northwestern extreme of Bathurst Island; and at Exmouth Island and 

 places in the vicinity, near the northwest part of North Devon. The explorations from the 

 Fram now show that these are but the southern edge of a wide basin of rocks which form the 

 islands of King Oscar, Ellef, and Amund Riages, while they constitute the lowlands of Axel 

 Heiberg and the western shores of Ellesmere along both sides of Eureka Sound. There they 

 consist largely of sandstones with shales, schists and limestones. 



For a general discussion of the faunal relations of the Arctic Triassic, espe- 

 cially with reference to that of Siberia and its affinities with North American faunas, 

 see papers by Moisisovics.^"^'""* 



TJ 18-21. GRINNELL LAND AND NORTHERN GREENLAND. 



The Cape Rawson beds of Grinnell Land have been classed as "Huronian or 

 Lower Cambrian," and lately as probably Triassic, at least in part. Dawson,^" 

 commenting on the original description by Feilden and De Rance,^^** says : 



After noting the Laurentian system as the fundamental one for the region [Ellesmere Land, 

 Grinnell Land, and the neighboring coast of north Greenland] and as forming Cape Isabella 



