Geology and Natural History. 16£ 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



I. Geology and Natural History. 



1. Report of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition in the 

 "Fram," 1898-1902; 4 volumes, 1907-1919. Pp. 2071 with 9 

 maps, 111 plates. Published by the Videuskabs-Selskabet i 

 Kristiania, at the expense of the Fridtjof Nansen Fund for the 

 Advancement of Science. — The thirty-six parts of these four 

 splendid volumes, by thirty-one authors, treat of the results in 

 geography, terrestrial magnetism, meteorology, botany, zoology, 

 and geology, gathered by Captain Otto Sverdrup and his band of 

 fifteen loyal Avorkers. Two of the latter died while in the far 

 north, and the geologist, Per Schei, passed away in 1905 before 

 he had time to work out his splendid collection of fossils. 



The most striking results of the expedition were attained in 

 geography, in mapping the southern and western shores of Elles- 

 mere Land, along with the new territories, Axel Heiberg Land, 

 Amund Kingnes Land, and Ellef Ringnes Land, — in all about 

 100,000 square miles. Probably the next best results were 

 attained in geology, and more especially along the lines of 

 Paleozoic stratigraphy, though the results in botany and zoology 

 are also very good. Of plants, Simmons, the botanist, collected 

 about 50,000 specimens, with the greatest number of new things 

 among the lichens and mosses. 



We now know that the Paleozoic strata of Ellsmere Land have a 

 thickness of at least 14,000 feet, beginning with the Upper Cam- 

 brian and closing with the highest Pennsylvanian. The Devon- 

 ian succession is best known, with a thickness of about 6,000 

 feet, yielding varied marine faunas of Lower and Middle times, 

 while the Upper Devonian, of coarse detrital and of fresh-water 

 origin, contains interesting fishes and land plants. The Mesozoic 

 is represented only by marine Upper Triassic, and then there is 

 no record until the lignitiferous fresh-water strata of the Mio- 

 cene were laid down. Sea terraces are described at many levels 

 all the way up to 570 feet above the present strand. Ellesmere 

 Land is a dissected table land, of recent elevation, rising rather 

 rapidly toward Greenland. 



These striking results should be in every reference library, both 

 because of their great value, and in order to show our Norwegian 

 colleagues that we appreciate their labor of love. The volumes 

 are golden monuments to Captain Sverdrup and his courageous 

 band. c. s. 



2. Eocene insects from the Rockij Mountains; by T. D. A. 

 Cockerell. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 57, 233-260, pis. 32-36, 

 1920. — From the Green River series, Scudder and others have 

 described 239 kinds of insects, to which are here added 35 new 



