Fauna, 1899, p. 156) roughly indicated that this land connection only affected the northern part of the North Sea. By drawing attention to the case of the red deer which is restricted to western Norway, from Stavanger to Namsos (59°-65° N), while it is completely absent from inland or eastern Norway. It therefore lies between the extremes of the two Scottish deer, as measured by him (p. 10).
But the nose is not flattened, as it should be if that character were valid for the distinction of the Norwegian deer. The antorbital spaces are described by Lonnberg in the Norwegian, Scottish and Irish specimens as being essentially of the same size.
The Celtic Horse
I also suggested that the fjord horse came to Norway from Scotland as a descendant of the Celtic pony. Distance from the center of the occipital crest to the outer edge of the orbit at the point of greatest cranial width. Distance from the point between the median incisors to the nearest point of the anterior border of the orbit 295.
Other Species of Mammals
This essentially corresponds to the corresponding feature of the Celtic horse which, according to Ewart, has a broad front. This is characteristic of the past and present distribution of these so-called "Arctic" animals outside of Norway. Similarly, species also living in the south and southeast may have entered southern Sweden soon after the recession of the ice sheet and spread northwards.
However, there are plenty of hints in the literature about such a diverse origin of several of the species involved. Among these, the case of red-backed mice of the subgenus Evotomys is the most enlightening. Were the various forms of common field mouse (Microtus agrcstis) to process as abundant material and carefully.
They are now chiefly inhabitants of the mountain plateau of the Scandinavian peninsula, the former extending from the southwest. It is interesting to note that the ermine, or stoat {Putorius erminetis), another of the "Arctic" animals, is likewise absent from these deposits. The whole question, moreover, is made extremely complicated by the mixing and hybridization of the.
The appearance of the mammoth in connection with this particular element of the flora is highly suggestive.
Two " Atlantic " Species of Birds
The Vaage district is not on the west coast, but I have little doubt that the ancestors of the mammoth that came to grief there immigrated to western Norway from Scotland over the Scots-Norwegian land bridge. I would like to emphasize here that Eleplias prhnigenius has been found fossilized not only in Scotland, but also in Ireland, and has thus kept to the general distribution of most of the "Atlantic" species we are dealing with. Nordfjord on the west coast lies almost in the center of the area which in Norway must have formed the north-eastern abutment of the Scottish-Norwegian land bridge.
It is somewhat parallel to that of the mountain bird (Lagopus miitus), but as I have previously referred to that species in a similar connection (Aincr. Caniiabina Havirostris, though now more or less confined to the islands and coasts of the North -Atlantic Ocean it is not originally a maritime bird, and indeed it is very extraordinary that we do not find it This Asiatic form of the twit extends from the Caucasus through Persia, Turkestan, and Tibet into.
As we approach the north and the west, we meet forms that multiply at sea level. In Norway it breeds commonly on all the islands and along the entire outer coast as far as the Varangerfjord in East Finmark, but never inland. The late Professor Axel Blytt, in his famous paper on the immigration of the Floraof Norway {Nyt Mag.
Blytt also distinguished in the Norwegian flora another element which he specifically called the 'Arctic' plants, which are generally believed to have entered the Scandinavian peninsula gradually from the south, immediately after the melting of the great ice sheet.
The Way of Dispersal into Western Norway
Take for example the case of tundra grouse (Lagopus mnius and L. rupestris), which ornithologists consider different species. These diametrically opposed views have led to a very instructive discussion about the spread of the Faroe Islands' flora, which the. I am therefore of opinion that the study of the Hieracia of a single district in its relation to the adjacent floral districts.
Borgesen, who treated the fresh-water algae for the Botany of the Faeroes (pt. i, 1901, p. 202), fully agrees. 34; I think that postglacial land connection is very unlikely and not necessary for the immigration of flora that can be assumed. It is fairly certain that all the freshwater fish of eastern and southern Norway have since immigrated to these parts of the country from southern Sweden.
At the western end of their range in Norway, they meet the southern members of the Atlantic biota, where their boundaries often overlap. With a few of the more widespread species, it is therefore sometimes difficult to determine which of the two groups they actually belong to. Of the red deer, Winge (p. 262) indicates two different types in Denmark, one limited to the islands, the other occurring only on the Jutland peninsula, but also occasionally on the islands.
2, suggests the identity of the Danish fossil insular form with the common deer of southern Sweden, the typical Cervus.
A Sketch of the Geological Considerations Involved
The sea which separates Scotland from Norway, as shown by the immense faults of the Scottish coast, lies. The most recent, most thorough and detailed study of the problem was made by Professor Fridtjof Nansen (Norweg. 34; But in a very recent geological period, and in fact since the appearance of man in this part of our world, there has been a separation.
However, it should be noted that both the reports of the Rockall expedition and A. The most superficial study of the phenomena of the Ice Age proves that there were great changes in level and more. These processes can take place in completely different ways in different parts of the same ocean.
While one part of the ocean shows large depressions or uplifts of the bottom, another part can be greatly affected. In fact, the changes in level are so closely connected with the different phases of the glacial phenomena that it seems impossible to regard them as mere coincidences. Of the several theories that have been put forward to account for the uneven submergence and uplift of the land masses, one is that which attributes the depression to the weight of the accumulated masses.
The magnitude of the glacial phenomenon combined with its diversity suggests that it is not due to a single cause, but to a confluence of many factors.
502 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 48 not cease on reaching the former level of equilibrium but continues
HYP50C.RAPHIC MAP
NORTHWESTERN EUROPE
We must not forget that western Norway and Scotland were on the fringes of the ice cap, the top and greatest mass of which was well to the east. While previously the ice sheet was melting due to relative subsidence and the reestablishment of the Gulf Stream, the arrival of the Arctic Ocean on the eastern side would cause an increase in precipitation. Many plants require quite a variety of climatic conditions, as do some animals.
STEJNEGER] animals and plants of NORWAY 5^5 rise of glacial activity, a mere hump on the downward curve of the general decline from the megaglacial peak. As the ice of the second glaciation began to melt, the unencumbered land began to rise again. Brogger, in his recent admirable publications on the changes of level in this region, sees but doubtful indications of the depression of the Ancylus in Norway.
In an article by Lewis on "The History of the Scottish Peat Moors and their Relation to the Glacial Period," Scott. He continues (p Even at the beginning of the period of the formation of ras [the great end moraines along the south-. The subsidence lasted a very long time in eastern Norway, but finally the land began to slowly rise there like the ice cap of the second ice age melted away.
34; it is therefore likely that during the last great glaciation at least parts of the west coast [of Norway, especially the mouth of the Sognefjord].
5IO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 48
Summary
In fact, some of the most notable members of this biota are currently restricted to this coastal area, while others are. The slightly wider distribution clearly points to the same coast as their secondary center of distribution. Numerous other species that are not specifically or subspecifically modified probably accompanied this peculiarity. biota, a fact that cannot currently be proven due to the imperfect status of our knowledge. This so-called "Atlantic" and "Arctatlantic" biota consists of a large number of species, of which the following are some of the most notable.
A number of non-sea birds, such as the ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus), the rock pigeon {Columha livia), the rock pipit. A number of land mammals, such as the changeable hare {Lepus timidtis), the lemming {Lemmiis lemmiis), the redback. field mouse {Evotomys norvegicus), the wild reindeer {Rangifcr torandits), the red deer (Cervus atlanticus) and the fjord horse (Eqz'iis celticus), wild or domesticated. The mammalian element of the fauna has been argued to provide fairly convincing evidence of a continuous land bridge between northern Scotland and western Norway, and geological considerations have been advanced to establish the likelihood of this land bridge's existence over time between the two phases of the war. ice age.
I have further tried to make it likely that the climatic conditions in western Norway during the Second Ice Age were not severe enough to preclude the survival of this biota there, although the possibility of a re-establishment of the land connection with Scotland and a consequent second Scottish invasion during the postglacial stage is not absolutely denied.
