BY PROF. DAVID, RICHARD HELMS, AND E. P. PITTMAN. 27 



In 1855 the late Baron Ferdinand von Miiller explored the 

 Kosciusko region, chiefly botanically. He speaks of "glaciers" 

 and "ice masses" at Kosciusko, but really refers not to true 

 glacier ice but to snow masses which are characteristic of 

 Kosciusko in winter, and which Mr. Clarke aptly describes 

 thus {pp. cit. p. 225) : — "The snow itself was not exactl}' in the 

 condition of that which I saw on the glaciers of Mont Blanc, 

 and which is called "neve," nor was it strictly "neige;" it partook 

 of the characters of both, and though not lying on ice but on the 

 rocks, was certainly in a transition state, being partially con- 

 solidated. It had been, I doubt not, often partially thawed and 

 re-congealed, the snows of many winters contributing to it. 

 Hence its imperfect crystalline structure." 



In January, 1885, Dr. R. von Lendenfeld made a cursory 

 examination of the Kosciusko Plateau, spending a couple of days 

 near the summit (ii, 12). Although he did not actually observe 

 ice-grooved rock surface, nor striated boulders nor moraines, he 

 nevertheless concluded from the general aspect of the surface of 

 the granite above the altitude of 5,800 feet, that the Kosciusko 

 Plateau had at one time been glaciated from its highest points 

 (over 7,000 feet), down to that level. 



During 1889 and 1893 one of us (Mr. Richard Helms) visited 

 the Australian Alps and found very definite traces of glaciation 

 in the form of moraines, and exhibited to this Societ}^ an ice- 

 scratched block from Kosciusko ( 6 )• The conclusion arrived at 

 in a subsequent paper was that the ice which glaciated Kosciusko 

 came down at least as low as 5,200 feet above the sea. It is 

 suggested that the numerous small circular lakes in the Monaro 

 region, not far from the Kosciusko Plateau^ and lying at altitudes 

 of only about 3,000 feet, may also be of glacial origin ( 7 ). 



In 1895 Mr. J. B. Jaquet, A.R.S.M., RG.S., examined and 

 reported upon a part of the Kosciusko Plateau ( 9 ). Mr. Jaquet 

 did not see any definite traces of glacial action in the part of the 

 plateau visited by him, and as a matter of fact in the localities 

 examined by him such traces are not conspicuous. 



