2 
T. G. HALLE, 
(Schvved. Südpolar-Exp. 
Before the Svvedisli Expedition of 1901 — 1903, scarcely anything was known of the 
past floras of the Antarctic lands. The first discovery of fossil plant-remains in those 
regions had been made by Captain C. Larsen during his voyages with the “Jason” 
in 1892 — 1S94. He found on Seymour Island, in about L. 64° 20' S., in addition to 
fossil mollusca, also trunks of petrified wood. Captain Lar.SEN has himself given a 
short account of this remarkable discovery (Geogr. Journ. Vol. 4, 1894, P- 333 ); and 
the wood was also mentioned by Shakman and Newton, who examined the fossil 
shells (Roy. Soc. Edinb. Proc. Vol. 22, 1898, p. 58). The Swedish Antarctic Expe- 
dition of 1901 — 1903 brought home from Seymour Island a large number of Tertiary 
plant-remains, consisting both of impressions and petrified stems. In the Cretaceous 
deposits of Seymour Island and the northern part of Snow Hill Island much petrified 
wood was found, too; and at a nunatak group near the middle of the latter island 
a small twig of a conifer was collected which has been determined by Prof. NathorST 
as cfr. Sequoia fastigiata Sternb. sp. (J. G. Andersson, 1906, p. 37); this is the 
only plant-impression known from the Cretaceous series. The Tertiary plant- 
impressions were briefly treated in the afore -mentioned preliminary report by Prof. 
Nathorst (1904) and were later fully described by Dr. P. DUSEN (1908). The 
fossil woods have all been examined and described b}" Dr. W. Gotiian of Berlin 
(1908). With the exceptions mentioned, all the Mesozoic plant-remains brought 
home by the expedition belong to the flora of Hope Bay, which forms the subject 
of the present paper. 
From other regions of the Antarctic than those visited by the Swedish Expe- 
dition there is next to nothing known of the floras of the past. An important dis- 
covery, which promises some interesting results in the future, was made however 
during SiR Ernest Siiackleton’s expedition to the South Pole in 1908 — 1909. 
When ascending the Beardmore Glacier, in about Eat. 85° S., the southern party 
discovered a seam of coal and, in a loose piece of sandstone, remains of fossilized 
wood. The wood has been examined by E. J. GODDARD and stated to belong to a 
conifer; but it does not give sufficient evidence as to the geological age of the deposit. 
Some fragments of a carbonaceous rock from the same locality have been sent to 
Prof. Nathorst in Stockholm. I have had an opportunity of making a microscopic 
examination of these specimens, but was unable to find any recognizable plant- 
remains. It seems, however, as if, even in this southern latitude, there had once 
flourished a vegetation of some sort. 
