BY PROF. DAVID, RICHARD HELMS, AND E. F. PITTMAN. 39 



would be relatively so small as to be negligible; and it has accord- 

 ingly been omitted from the following calculations. As regards 

 the phyllites in view of their highly cleaved and jointed 

 character and their soft micaceous nature, it is probable that 

 erosion, in their case, too, may have progressed at least as rapidly 

 as in the case of the Permo-Carboniferous glacial beds studied by 

 Mr. Brittlebank, and if further allowance be made for exposure 

 to frosts on Kosciusko, and for the great range of temperature 

 to which the rocks there are exposed, it may reasonably be 

 assumed that the erosion at Kosciusko was more rapid than at the 

 Werribee River. At the same time the fact must not be lost 

 sight of that for about six months in the year the moraine at 

 Townsend's Pass is under snow, during which time erosion and 

 weathering would be at a minimum. 



Even if the phyllites at the above moraine were eroded at the 

 same rate as the Permo-Carboniferous beds of the Werribee 

 River, that is at the rate of 1 inch in 100 years, at least 10 feet 

 of phyllite having been eroded since the latest glaciation, this 

 would obviously need for its accomplishment 10x12x100 years 

 = 12,000 years. For reasons, however, stated above it is pro- 

 bable that these figures are too high. This supposition is 

 confirmed by the freshness and good state of preservation of the 

 glaciated surfaces of granite even in highly exposed positions in 

 the Kosciusko Plateau, not more than one-sixteenth of an inch 

 to 1 inch having been removed by weathering. The original 

 glaciated surface, however, is rarely preserved, except where it 

 has been protected by a covering of moraine. 



If the gully to the N.E. of the lateral moraine be followed 

 down from the end of the moraine embankment towards the 

 Snowy River, a small striated rock surface may be noticed of 

 hard slate, and about a couple of yards square, about three chains 

 below the base of the moraine embankment ; and at a point still 

 further down towards the Snowy River 7| chains below the foot 

 of the moraine, and a few feet above the bed of the creek, is 

 another small striated rock surface. The rock in this case is a hard 

 quartzite. It is a few feet above the east bank of the creek, and 



