4 NATHORST. FOSSIL PLANTS OF FRANZ JOSEF LAND. [norw. pol. exp. 



Land, which I ohserved in the summer of 1898, and on which I shall touch 

 in my work on the geology of this land. 



The plant-bearing rock is broken into rather sharp-cornered, small frag- 

 ments, the surface being white, yellowish, or brownish, while it is darker in 

 fresh fractures. Some pieces show a kind of conglomerate structure, being 

 composed of small rounded white fragments, reminding one of those that 

 are not uncommon in volcanic tuffs, and this variety, at any rate micro- 

 scopically, shows some resemblance to the white clays which are derived 

 from volcanic tuffs. Whether this will be confirmed by further microscopical 

 examination I cannot at present say. 



The organic substance of the plants is sometimes still to be seen in a 

 brownish softer variety of the rock, which is more like a soft bituminous 

 shale. But the harder white or yellowish varieties only present impressions, 

 or, more correctly speaking, the cavities left by the leaves, as their organic 

 substance has entirely disappeared, without any other taking its place. In cross 

 fractures, consequently, there may sometimes be seen cavities which are com- 

 plete transverse sections of the coniferous leaves. 



Unfortunately most of the remains of the plants are very fragmentary, 

 and as, moreover, the leaves in themselves are small, and are not by any 

 difference of colour distinguishable from the rock, the examination of the 

 material has been very arduous, having almost without exception been made 

 under the magnifying lens. There would have been no occasion to mention 

 this, had the material been better, but as it is, the question as to the age of 

 the deposit can only approximately be settled, as will be seen from the latter 

 part of this article. 



During the time that has elapsed since Nansen came back, the Jackson- 

 Harmsworth expedition has also returned, and the fossils collected by the latter 

 party have been described by Messrs. E. T. Newton and J. J. H. Teall; besides 

 which. Dr. KcettUtz has given a detailed account of the geological conditions 

 of the various localities.i In the article first mentioned, suggestion is made 



E. T. Newton and /. J. H. Teall, 'Notes on a collection of Rocks and Fossils from 

 Franz Josel Land'. Quarterly Journ. Geol. Soc. London, voL 53 (1897), p. 477. 'Addi- 

 tional notes on Rocks and Fossils from Franz Josef Land'. Ibidem, vol. 54 (1898), 

 P- 64fi. B. KcettUts, 'Observations of the geology of Franz Josef Land'. Ibidem, vol. 

 54 (1898), p. 620. 



