38 POMPECKJ. JURASSIC FAUNA OF CAPE FLORA. [norw. pol. exp. 



Whitish sandstone with small grains of quartz, anrl a white clayey ce- 

 ment, — pale gray, very finely grained sandstone — yellowish gray, finely 

 laminated clay slate, with numerous small scales of white mica and small 

 lignitic particles with plant-structure, — sandstone containing lignite. 



Payer mentions no fossils except silicified wood. The sandstones with 

 clayey cement might possibly be of Jurassic age. Blocks of clay-ironstone 

 with Jurassic fossils have been found in abundance in the district of Cape 

 Flora (Northbrook Island) both by the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition and 

 by Nansen. But, as no fossils in any way characteristic were found among 

 the specimens of rocks collected by Payer, it is of course almost useless 

 to try and find the age of these rocks from their petrographic resemblance. 



1881 (1880). The first certain information of the occurrence of Jurassic 

 strata on Franz Josef Land we find in the account of the Eira polar expedi- 

 tion under Leigh Smith i. In the neighbourhood of Eira Harbour, about 

 10 miles west of Northbrook Island, Mr. W. G. A. Grant found silicified 

 wood and some other fossils on the hill overhanging the harbour. (Au- 

 gust 22, 1880). Among these fossils Etheridge identified two belemnites as 

 belonging to the Oxford Clay. Unfortunately, the exact locality of these, the 

 first recorded Jurassic fossils from Franz Josef Land, cannot be ascertained. 

 Judging from the description of the surroundings of Eira Harbour (1. c. p. 

 133) the locality might be Mabel Island, situated to the north of the harbour; 

 while according to the statement of the height of the hill where the fossils 

 were found, (1040 feet) Bell Island, situated to the south of the harbour, might 

 also be the place (the mountain forming the apex of Bell Island is reported 

 to be 1400 feet). 



1895. Fifteen years after the discovery of the first Jurassic fossils on 

 Franz Josef Land, the ' Windward' brought to London some geological mate- 

 rial from the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition. The specimens had been collec- 

 ted at Cape Flora on Northbrook Island. Among these specimens were some 



C. A. Markham, 'The voyage of the Eira, and Mr, Leigh Smith's Arctic Discoveries 

 m 1880'. Proceed, of The Roy. Geogr. Soc. London 1881, vol. III. p. (34, 135, 147. 

 M. Neumayr, 'Die Geographische Verbreitung der Jura-formation'. Denkschr. d. 

 Wiener Akad. 1885, vol L. p. 90. 



A. Montefiore. 'A note on the Geography of Franz Josef Land'. Geograph. Journ. 

 London 1894, vol. III. p. 495. 



