Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 57.djvu/435

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THE NORWEGIAN POLAR EXPEDITION.
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Nansen says: "Through Jackson's kindness and Koettlitz's valuable assistance, I was enabled to make a collection of fossils and rocks from the Jurassic deposits of this locality."

"(Koettlitz) took me to places where, before my arrival, he had already found fossils, or had observed anything of importance. Had it not been for him I should certainly not have been able to do what little I did during the few days at my disposal. I agree with Koettlitz on all essential points, and have nothing new of importance to add to what he has already said."

As Nansen elsewhere remarks, the memoirs of Pompeckj and Nathorst supplement the papers of Koettlitz, Newton and Teall, which appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1897, pp. 477-519, and 1898, pp. 620-651.

Pompeckj describes fully the various fossils, illustrates them with wealth of detail, discusses their stratigraphical relations, and outlines the paleographical history of Franz Josef Land.

Of the twenty-six species collected by Nansen no less than seventeen are new as compared with the Jackson-Harmsworth collection, which contains five species lacking to Nansen. There are representatives of single species only of echinoderms, vermes and gastropods, the scarcity of the last named being generally characteristic of the Jurassic fauna of the arctic regions, whether in Siberia, Greenland, or Arctic America. On the other hand, at Cape Flora the cephalopods and the lamellibranchs predominate very largely. This fact makes most notable the absence of the lamellibranch genus Aucella, with all other forms that are especially characteristic of the higher Jura.

The following new species have been determined by Pompeckj: Pseudomonotis Jacksoni, an ornamented shell of a remarkably large Aviculid form. Macrocephalites Koettlitzi, a shell with a very narrow umbilicus and almost completely encircling whorls. Cadoceras Nanseni, an ammonite showing a flat disc-like growth, with moderately thick whorls of which cross-sections are nearly elliptical. Another ammonite may possibly be a variety of C. Nanseni, but Pompeckj considers that it is a separate species owing to its wider umbilicus, less pronounced involution and somewhat asymmetrical lobe-line.

Pompeckj's outline of the paleontographical history of Franz Josef Land is worthy of careful consideration by all interested in this department of science, although many may differ from some of the conclusions reached by him. Commenting on the stratigraphical studies of Prof. E. T. Newton, Pompeckj states that his own investigations compel him to differ materially from the inferences drawn and theories advanced by that scientist.

Pompeckj says: "The occurrence of these three genera of Ammonites proves that the marine fauna of Cape Flora contain representatives of