PROFESSOR HEER ON THE EOSSIL ELORA OE NORTH GREENLAND. 457 
which appear in places as thick beds of basalt and trap. Most unfortunately there was 
no opportunity afforded to this expedition of visiting the cretaceous strata on the north 
side of Noursoak (near Koine) which have revealed to us the existence of the interesting 
chalk flora, described in my ‘ Flora Arctica.’ 
I shall now proceed to give some particulars respecting the plants brought home by 
Mr. Whymper. 
I. Fossil Plants from Disco. 
The collection contains fourteen species from this island ; six are from Ujararsusuk, and 
twelve from Kudliset, four are common to both localities, viz. Aspidium Meyeri, Sequoia 
CouUsice , Platanus Guillelmce , and Magnolia Inglefieldi. The plane and the Sequoia 
are the commonest trees at both places. Plane leaves of various sizes and of great 
beauty have been found (cf. Plate XLVII. & XLVIII.), and prove to us that two spe- 
cies of this tree occurred in the Miocene deposits of North Greenland. Both of them 
have been found at Atanekerdluk, but only one {P. Guillelmce , Gopp.) occurred at Disco. 
The Sequoia exhibits not only long twigs in a good state of preservation, but also the 
cones (Plate XLI. & XLII.). It appears therefore that at the Miocene epoch the 
woods of this part of Disco Island were chiefly composed of planes and Sequoias. In 
addition there were a Widdringtonia, a Liquidambar , and a Magnolia with very large 
evergreen leaves. The leaves of this Magnolia have been found at Kudliset and 
Atanekerdluk, the fruit at Ujararsusuk. I had previously known only the leaves of this 
remarkable tree, which were described in my ‘ Flora Arctica’ (p. 120, pis. iii., xvi., xviii.). 
The two cones found at Ujararsusuk are accordingly among the most important results 
obtained by this expedition ; they corroborate the determination of the tree effected by 
means of the leaves alone, and they prove to us that this splendid evergreen ripened its 
fruits so far north as on the parallel of 70°. A Dryandra, an Aralia and a Paliurus 
probably constituted the brushwood of the forest, while several ferns (Aspidium Meyeri, 
A. Heerii , Ett., A. ursinum ) covered the ground. The Phragmites and the Sparganium 
point to the existence of a river or a lake. 
Seven out of these fourteen species occur also at Atanekerdluk. Eight of them agree 
with those of the Lower Miocene of Europe. The flora belongs therefore to that 
epoch. 
II. Fossil Plants from AtanelcerdluJc. 
In the sandstone and ironstone of Kudliset and Ujararsusuk, the fossil plants are 
rather rare, but at Atanekerdluk they are found in the greatest profusion, at times 
occurring in dense conglomerated masses. The collection contains 73 species from this 
locality ; 48 of these are described in my ‘ Flora Arctica,’ and 25 are new. Of these 
latter 5 are found in the Miocene Flora of Europe, viz. Poacites Mengeanus, Smilax gran- 
difolia, Quercus Laharpii, Corylus insignis , and Sassafras Ferretianum. Of these the 
Smilax and Sassafras present points of peculiar interest. The Smilax grandifolia repre- 
sents. the Smilax Mauritania of the present Mediterranean flora, and at the lower Mio- 
cene epoch was distributed over the whole of Europe. It is found in Italy, Switzerland, 
