E. 21. Kindle — Diatomaceous Dust. 179 



laud in 1889 contained 16 species of diatoms, 12 of which were 

 known elsewhere only from floes at Cape Wankarema.* 



In contrast with this remarkable resemblance between the 

 Wankarema and the E. Greenland diatom floras which are 

 separated by the entire breadth of the Arctic Sea, we find 

 between the Wankarema and Bering Sea floras almost com- 

 plete unlikeness, there being but one species common to both. 

 This sharp contrast between the diatom floras occurring on the 

 ice to the northwest and to the south of Bering Strait affords 

 convincing evidence that no definite marine current connects 

 the two areas which could carry the Wankarema flora south- 

 ward or the Bering Sea flora northwestward. On the other 

 hand, the close resemblance of the Bering Sea ice diatoms to 

 the Pacific flora which is shown by more than nine species 

 common to the two, indicates a close relationship through 

 marine currents with the Pacific Ocean. 



Dall's conclusions regarding the movement of water in the 

 southern part of Bering Sea corresponds with the evidence of 

 the diatoms in this respect. He states :f "My own conclusion 

 from a study of the data is that the general tendency of the 

 water in Bering Sea is to the southward and where deep 

 enough as in the western part of the sea it forms a tolerably 

 well defined current." The ice drift in the vicinity of Cape 

 Wankarema, on the other hand, was shown by the drift of the 

 Jeannette to be to the northward or away from Bering Strait. 

 These opposite tendencies of the currents in the two areas 

 explain the contrast between the diatoms of Cape Wankarema 

 and Cape Pomanzof. 



* H. H. Gran, Diatomaceas from the ice floes and of the Arctic Ocean : 

 The Norwegian N. Polar Exped., 1893-96, vol. iv, p. 6, 1904. 



f Report U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for 1880. Appendix No. 16, 

 p. 315. 



