phesidekt’s address. 
1<35 
neighbourhood of DLsco, North Greenland, in 70° X. lat., again 
ill Grinnell Land in 81° 43' N. lat., in Spitsbergen in 79° N. lat., in 
Alaska, and in Iceland. Probably Bennett Island, lying to the north 
of the New Siberian Islands, is also of Miocene age, judging from 
the description given of it by the gallant and unfortunate De Long.* 
Thus, at various points around the Polar basin, evidence of a great 
land extension in Miocene times is proved to have existed : that 
great land surfaces occurred, is shown by the arboreal and plant 
remains that have been di.scovered and described. It is impossible 
therefore to doubt that the land in Miocene times had a vast 
extension, probably extending over the North Pole itself. L"n- 
fortunately, no ^Miocene strata have yet been discovered in the 
Polar area containing mammalian or vertebrate remains, but there 
is no reason why the labours of future explorers may not bo 
rewarded by tlieir discovery. That the Miocene arboreal vegetation 
originated at the Pole, and spread .southwards, appears impossible 
to doubt, when wo rollect over the instances which I have quoted 
on the authority of Ileer, of the Taxodium distichum miocoenum, 
which still exists in Mexico, which is found fossil in Grinnell 
Land, and in Spitsbergen, and which in IMiocene times extended as 
far south in Europe as Central Italy. Again, that Pinus ahics 
should have grown in Miocene time in N. lat., 81° 43', that it di<l 
not extend then to temperate Europe, where it now forms one of 
the principal constituents of our modem forests. But it is 
unnecessary for me to urge this view further, as these doctrines of 
Ileer are accepted more or less in their integrity by the greatest 
and most philosophic of living botanists. The main opposition to 
the speedier adoption of Ileer’s philosophic views arose, I think, 
from the difficulty in realizing that a rich arboreal vegetation could 
exist in a portion of the earth, where for nearly six months of each 
year the sun is below the horizon. This objection is more apparent 
than real, and docs not stand the test of practical experience. I 
must tlierefore refer briefly to this vexed question. 
The difficulty advanced of accounting for animal life, and a rich 
and diversified vegetation existing at the North Pole through the 
♦ ‘ Voyage of the Jeannetto,’ vol ii. p. 661. 
