Deposits in the Magellan Territories. — Nordenskjold. 301 
was constrained to lay cliief stress in my labors upon such re- 
searches as should serve to establish the physical, in especial 
the climatic, conditions durinj:^ the period in question, and 
upon collecting- plant fossils that in many places occur in 
strata belonging to the middle sections of the Tertiary forma- 
tion, viz : the Supra Patagonian and the Santa Cruz beds. 
Leaves belonging to the species of the genus Fragus are 
the commonest finds ; among them the most useful, probably, 
is F. magelhccnica, described by Engelhardt as found in Punta 
Arenas. This proves that the vegetation at that period had 
the same character as at present. That the climate, how- 
ever, must have been somewhat warmer seems proved by a 
find tliat Xathorst has made among the collections we brought 
home, viz: abroad-leaved species of Araucaria (group Colym- 
bea) in Tertiary clay from Punta Arenas. That the climate, 
however, must have been damper seems to be evident from 
the fact that strata of coal and remains of a luxuriant vegeta- 
tion have been come upon in localities where to-day no 
arboreal vegetation occurs. Engelhardt, however, describes''' . 
a portion of a palm leaf found in the place just referred to, 
and comes to the conclusion that the climate at that time must 
at least have been subtropical. That is, nevertheless, not 
plausible, unless confusion of locality exists, the leaf probably 
coming from some quite dififerent deposit older than that 
containing Fragus and Araucaria. 
The most recent deposits in Patagonia that contain fossils, 
so far as hitherto known, are the Cape Fairweather beds, de- 
scribed bv Hatcher. He collected from them specimens of a 
mollusk-fauna somewhat poor in the matter of species and 
submitted the same to Pilsbry for him to describe. The de- 
scription he gives shows that the strata cannot be older than 
Pliocene. They gradually yield place to the Patagonian 
boulder formation above, the age of the latter being thereby 
fixed at their earliest limit. 
Relying on Darwin's description. Hatcher correlates the 
Cape Fairweather beds with the Tertiary deposits at San Sebas- 
tian bay in Terra del Fuego. From that place and its vicinity 1 
have brought home a large number of fossil plants and mol- 
lusks. The latter have been consigned to the charge of Prof. 
*Abh. Scnckenb. Naturf., Ses. XVI, 629. 
