72 Geological Society. 



consist of finely stratified red sandstone and slate, resting directly 

 on the Laurent ian gneiss, resembling that found at Cape Bunny and 

 in the cliffs between Whale and AVolstenholmc Sounds. Above these 

 sandstones occur ferruginous limestones, with quartz grains ; and 

 still higher in the series the cream-coloured limestones come in. 

 The Silurians occupy Prince- Albert Land, the central and western 

 portion of North Devon, and the whole of Cornwallis Island. The 

 Carboniferous Limestone was discovered, rising to a height of 2000 

 feet, on the extreme north coast of Griimell Land, in Feildcn and 

 Parry Peninsulas, and contains many species of fossils in common 

 with the rocks of the same age in Spitzbergen and the Parry 

 Archipelago, being probably continuously connected with the lime- 

 stone of that area, by way of the United-States range of mountains. 

 The coal-bearing beds that underlie the Carboniferous Limestones of 

 Melville Island are absent in Grinnell Land ; but they are represented 

 by true marine Devonians, established in the Polar area for the first 

 time, through the determination of the fossils, by Mr. Etheridge. 

 In America a vast area is covered by Cretaceous rocks. The lowest 

 division, the Dakota group, contains lignite seams and numerous 

 plant-remains indicating a temperate flora ; overlying the Cretaceous 

 series are various Tertiary beds, each characterized by a special flora., 

 the oldest containing subtropical and tropical forms, such as various 

 palms of Eocene type. In the overlying Miocene beds the character 

 of the plants indicates a more temperate climate ; and many of the 

 species occur in the Miocene beds of Disco Island, in AYest Green- 

 land, and a few of them in beds associated with the 30-feet coal- 

 seam discovered at Lady-Eranklin Sound by the late expedition. 

 The warmer Eocene flora is entirely absent in the Arctic area ; but 

 the Dakota beds are represented by the "Atane strata" of "West 

 Greenland, in which the leaves of dicotyledonous plants first appear. 

 Beneath it, in Greenland, is an older series of Cretaceous plant- 

 bearing beds, indicating a somewhat warmer climate, resembling 

 that experienced in Egypt and the Canary Islands at the present 

 time. In the later Miocene beds of Greenland, Spitzbergen, and 

 the newly discovered beds of Lady-Eranklin Sound, the plants belong 

 to climatal conditions 30° warmer than at present, the most northern 

 localities marking the coldest conditions. The common fir (Plnus 

 abies) was discovered in the Grinnell-Land Miocene, as well as the 

 birch, poplar, and other trees, which doubtless extended across the 

 polar area to Spitzbergen, where they also occur. 



At the present time the coasts of Grinnell Land and Greenland are 

 steadily rising from the sea, beds of glacio-marine origin, with shells of 

 the same species as are now living in Kennedy Channel, extending 

 up the hillsides and valley-slopes to a height of 1000 ft., and 

 reaching a thickness of from 200 to 300 ft. These deposits, which 

 have much in common with the " boulder- clays " of English geo- 

 logists, are formed by the deposition of mud and sand carried clown 

 by summer torrents and discharged into fiords and arms of the sea, 

 covered with stone- and gravel-laden floes, which, melted by the 

 heated and turbid waters, j>recipitate their freight on the mud 



