The Fossil Forest of Atanalierdluk. 61 



THE FOSSIL FOREST OF ATANAKERDLUK. 



The Archives ties Sciences (No. 107) contains a report of a 

 paper by Oswald Heer, on the fossil forest of Atanakerdluk, 

 in North Greenland,, from which the following particulars are 

 taken. 



The forest in question is situated in lat. 70° N., and 

 numerous specimens obtained from it were brought to Eng- 

 land, and from thence sent for examination to M. Heer. All 

 the indications show that the trees grew in the place in which 

 they have been found, and many of the leaves are so well pre- 

 served as to exhibit fragments of insects on their surface. 



The forest of Atanakerdluk probably dates from the com- 

 mencement of the miocene period, for out of sixty- six species 

 of plants recognized in it, eighteen belong to the miocene 

 formation of Central Europe, nine of which were widely dif- 

 fused, and are met with in the two divisions of the molasse. 

 These last are as follows : Sequoia Langsdorfi, Taxodium 

 dubium, Phragmitis CEningensis, Quercus Drymeia, Planer a 

 JJngeri, Diospyros brachysepala, Andromeda protogcea, 

 Rhamnus Eridani, and Juglans acuminata. Some species, 

 on the contrary, have not been found in the upper molasse, 

 such as Sequoia Couttsice, Osmunda Heeru, Coryllus Mac 

 Quarrii, Populus Zaddachi. 



The discovery of this fossil flora shows that the north of 

 Greenland formerly enjoyed a much higher temperature than 

 at present. When M. Heer arrived, from a study of the 

 Swiss miocene flora, at the conclusion that the climate of that 

 country must formerly have been almost tropical, his opin- 

 ions were assailed, and it was contended that the plants in 

 question might have been able to withstand a lower tempera- 

 ture than their living representatives. This objection, of 

 slight value in face of the evidence adduced by M. Heer, is 

 completely disposed of by the discovery of the ancient flora 

 of Greenland. 



A great forest in the 70th parallel of latitude vividly strikes 

 the imagination, when we reflect that all arborescent vegetation 

 has disappeared from those regions ; and we are still more 

 astonished when we ascertain the sort of trees that formerly 

 shaded their soil. It is from 10° to 20° more south that we 

 must now seek their liviug representatives, such -as the Sequoia 

 now found in California, which compares with the two fossil 

 species of the Greenland forest. A Salisburea which once 

 lived there is now represented by a single species, which grows 

 in Japan. Four species of oaks grew in this forest; the 

 Quercus Drymeia, which had an evergreen foliage; the Q. Green- 



