Hill. — Geology of Haivke's Bay. 463 



of members, from the Pleistocene deposits of this district 

 do not tell ns anything more as to the kind of climate 

 which prevailed at the time of their deposition further than 

 to limit the bounds of temperature within the basin of 

 accumulation both in vertical and horizontal space. And 

 there can be little doubt, it seems to me, judging by the 

 character of the leaf-impressions so widely scattered among 

 the deposits of the district, that a fairly warm climate pre- 

 vailed in the lowlands during the Pleistocene period not 

 unlike that now experienced along the east coast of this 

 Island, whilst in the uplands the contrasts of heat and cold 

 were no wider than they now are between Napier and the 

 volcanic zone. 



But, assuming that the Pleistocene deposits described by 

 me as being so widely diffused over this district afford evi- 

 dence of glacial action, I do not see that even then the 

 climate that prevailed was necessarily cooler than what it 

 now is in the lowlands. It has already been pointed out that 

 glaciers reach within 700ft. of sea-level in the South Island 

 under special conditions. This represents an elevation of 

 about 1,600ft. for Hawke's Bay ; but climate depends upon 

 many modifying influences other than latitude and elevation, 

 and, if these are present, as in the case of the Franz-Josef 

 Glacier, there appears no reason why glaciers could not exist 

 in the Euahine and Kaweka Mountains, even though the 

 climate of the district is represented by a warm temperate 

 flora. 



In England, Europe, and America the Glacial period is 

 recognized to have taken place during the same period as 

 characterizes our pumice, shingle, and conglomerate deposits. 

 It is supposed, however, that during the Pleistocene period a 

 succession of warm and cold epochs took place in such a way 

 that a warm epoch was succeeded by a cold one, and that this 

 alternation from warm to cold continued until the close of the 

 period. Geikie, in "Fragments of Earth-lore," page 319, 

 enumerates five such glacial and five interglacial epochs as 

 having occurred in Europe. The conclusion is based upon 

 the fossil flora and fauna that have been found in the deposits 

 which are referred to this period, and he says that the " cold 

 conditions that culminated in the Glacial period began to 

 manifest themselves in Pliocene times" ; whilst Heer, in his 

 " Primeval World of Switzerland," remarks that " from the 

 Miocene to the beginning of the Quaternary period, during a 

 comparatively short time, a complete alteration took place, 

 and the temperature of the Glacial period sank below the pre- 

 sent level." It is fully recognized that, so far as Europe and 

 North America are concerned, the Pleistocene deposits are 

 such as to show great alternations of level in the surface of 



