SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
105 
miocenum (with male flowers), Pinus Feildenianci (a new species allied to' 
P. Strobus), Pinus 'polar is, P. abies (twigs covered with leaves), a species 
of Tsuga ( Pinus Bicksoniana, Heer.), and a white Spruce of the group of 
Pinus grandis and cariocarpa. Pinus abies, which occurs here and in Spitz- 
bergen, did not exist in Europe in Miocene times, but had its original home 
in the extreme north, and thence extended southwards ; it is met with in 
the Norfolk forest-bed, and in the interglacial lignites of Switzerland. Its 
present northern limit is 69^° N., and it spreads over 25° of latitude. 
Taxodium distichum, on the contrary, spread in Miocene times from Central 
Italy to 82° N. latitude, whilst at present it is confined to a small area. 
Betula Brongniarti, Ett., is the only European species from Grinnell Land 
not previously known from the arctic zone. 
The thick lignite-bed of Grinnell Land indicates a large peat-moss, pro- 
bably containing a lake in which the water-lilies grew ; on its muddy shores 
stood the large reeds and sedges, the birches, poplars, Taxodia, and Torellice. 
The drier spots and neighbouring chains of hills were probably occupied by 
the pines and firs, associated with elms and hazel-bushes. A single elytron 
of a beetle ( Carabites Feildenianus) is at present the sole evidence of the 
existence of animals in this forest region. 
The nature of the flora revealed by Captain Feilden’s discoveries seems to 
confirm and extend earlier results. It approaches much more closely tO' 
that of Spitzbergen than to that of Greenland, as might be expected from 
the relative positions of the localities; and the difference is the same in 
kind as that already indicated by Professor Heer between Spitzbergen and 
Greenland, and would indicate the same kind of climatic difference. 
Nevertheless, the presence of Taxodium distichum excludes arctic condi- 
tions, and that of the water-lily indicates the existence of fresh water, 
which must have remained open a great part of the year. Kepresenta- 
tives of plants now living exclusively in the arctic zone are wanting in the 
Grinnell Land deposits ; but, on the other hand, most of the genera still 
extend into that zone, although they range in Grinnell Land from 12° to 
15° further north than at present. — Proc. Geol. Soc., 7th November, 1877. 
European Tertiary Beer. — In a paper lately read before the Geological 
Society, Professor W. Boyd Dawkins discussed the characters presented by 
the European Miocene and Pliocene Deer, and indicated that the majority 
of the known antlers may be referred to two categories — an earlier or 
Oapreoline, and a later or Axidine type. To the Capreoli he referred 
the following species : — Bicroceros elegans, Lart., = Prox furcatus , Hemel, 
Cervus dicranoceros, Kaup. (including C. anoceros and trigonoceros, Kaup.), 
and Cervus Matheronis, Gerv. ( = C. Bravardi) from the Miocene, and 
Cervus australis, Gerv., and C. cusanus, Oroizet & Jobert, from the Pliocene. 
To the Axeides belong Cervus Perrieri, Or. & Job. (including C. issiodorensis 
and pardinemis, of the same authors), C. etneriarum, Or. & Job. ( = C. 
rusaides, Pom., and C. perollensis and stylodus , Brav.), C. suttonensis sp. n., 
and C. cylindroceros Brav. (including C. gracilis, Brav.), all from Pliocene 
deposits. Besides these, the author noticed a species incertce sedis under the 
name of Cervus tetraceros, Dawkins, which he regards as coming nearest to 
the Virginian Deer, or Oariacou ( Cariacus virginianus). From the examina- 
tion of the antlers of these species he indicates that in the Middle Miocene 
