The Popular Science Monthly, August, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900Various
Science
The Popular Science Monthly, August, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Nansen confines himself to a brief geological sketch of Cape Flora
and its neighborhood; Pompeckj treats fully the Jurassic fauna, while
Nathorst briefly discusses the fossil plants.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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