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XIII. Contributions to the Fossil Flora of North Greenland, being a Bescription of thePlants collected bxj Mr. Edward Wiiymper during the Summer of 1867. By Pro-fessor Oswald Heer . Communicated by Professor Stokes, Sec. It.S.

Ilccciveil February 16,—lleacl March 11, 1869.

General BemarJcs.

I. The greater part of the fossil plants which have been brought from Arctic regionshave come from North Greenland. Atanekerdluk (lat. 70° N.) is the principal locality,and there the remains of vegetable organisms are found in such profusion, that we areablc, to some extent, to restore the ancient flora of North Greenland, and deduce most im-portant conclusions as to the formcr physiognomy and the climate of this high northernregion. The fossil plants which were brought home by M‘Clintock, Inglefield, andColomb, and deposited in Dublin and London , were found at this locality, as well asthe very rieh collection made by Mr. Olrik, formerly Inspector of North Greenland,which is now to be found at Copenhagen . These materials, on examination, werefonnd to contain 105 species of plants. Of some, the leaves, fruits, and seeds were ob-served, so that an absolute detennination of tlieir species was rendered possible; whileof others merely the leaves, and of these at times only fragments, were discoverable.Of these latter accordingly the identification cannot be considered as final. It becametherefore a matter of great importance to procure additional spccimens from this loca-lity, so as to increase our knowledge of the Arctic Fossil Flora, and also to ascertainwhether similar fossils were of universal occurrence in the various lignite deposits ofNorth Greenland. It was lioped, too, that remains of Mammalia might be found in thecoal.

The filterest attached to these questions induced Mr. Robert II. Scott to propose theplan of an Expedition to North Greenland, to be carried out by means of funds furnishedby the British Association. That body at the Nottingham Meeting voted a sum ofmoney for the purpose, which was subsequently most liberally augmented by the Govern-ment-Grant Committee of the Royal Society. Circumstances rendered it impossible forMr. Scott to carry out his idea of visiting Greenland himself, and Mr. Edward Wiiymper,who liad previously made arrangements for travelling in North Greenland, undertook toobtain as good a collection of fossils from Atanekerdluk as possible, and to examine asmany otlier localities as his time might permit. Mr. Wiiymper took with him Mr.Robert Brown, F.R.G.S., as collector. Mr. W ymper passed some time at Copenhagen ,preparing himself for his undertaking, and sailed from that port in the spring of 1867.He arrived at the Colony of Jakobshavn in Greenland on the 16th of June, and on themdccclxix. 3 o