eir bustling sisters, who jumped lightly and securely
over stocks and stones, and never appeared to have any idea that the
burdens on their backs were at all unpleasant or troublesome.

According to Dr. A.G. NATHORST'S examination, the fossil plants which I
brought home from this place belong to the more recent Tertiary
formation. Our distinguished and acute vegetable paleontologist fixes
attention on the point, that we would have expected to find here a
fossil flora allied to the recent South Japanese, which is considered to
be derived from a Tertiary flora which closely resembles it. There is,
however, no such correspondence, for impressions of ferns are almost
completely wanting at Mogi, and even of pines there is only a single
leaf-bearing variety which closely resembles the Spitzbergen form of
_Sequoia Langsdorfii_, Brag. On the other hand, there are met with, in
great abundance, the leaves of a species of beech nearly allied to the
red beech of America, _Fagus ferruginea_, Ait., but not resembling the
recent Japanese varieties of the same family. There were found, besides,
leaves of Quercus, Juglans, Populus, Myrica, Salix, Zelkova,
Liquidambar, Acer, Prunus, Tilia, &c., resembling leaves of recent types
from the forests of Japan, from the forest flora of America, or from the
temperate flora of the Himalayas. But as the place where they were found
is situated at the sea-shore, quite close to the southern extremity of
Japan, it is singular that the tropical or sub-tropical elements of the
flora of Japan are here wanting. From this Dr. Nathorst draws the
conclusion that these are not, as has been hitherto supposed, the
remains of a flora originating in Japan, but that they have since
migrated thither from a former continent situated further to the south,
which has since disappeared. Dr. Nathorst's examination is not yet
completed, but even if this were the case, want of space would not
permit me to treat of this point at greater length. I cannot, however,
omit to mention that it was highly agreeable to be able to connect with
the memory of the _Vega_ expedition at least a small contribution from
more southerly lands to vegetable palaeontology, a branch of knowledge to
which our preceding Arctic expeditions yielded new additions of such
importance through the fossil herbaria from luxuriant ancient forests
which they brought to light from the ice-covered cliffs of Spitzbergen
and from the basalt-covered sandstones and