486 EVIDENCES OF GLACIATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS, 



detailing certain phenomena in the Livingstone Creek and 

 Victoria River Valleys. (1) During the same month a paper by 

 Captain, now Professor Hutton, F.G.S. of New Zealand, was 

 read before the Linnean Society of N.S.W., on the supposed glacial 

 epoch in Australia (2), being in part a reply to Dr. von Lendenfeld's 

 previous writings concerning a very recent glacier epoch in the 

 Southern Hemisphere, based upon New Zealand experiences and 

 explorations, and partly an endeavour to show that the roches 

 moutonnees and smoothed surfaces on Mt. Kosciusco by no means 

 imply, or to use the actual words of the learned Professor, " it 

 " by no means follows that they were caused by a glacial epoch, 

 " because they might equally well be clue to greater elevation, 

 " combined with greater atmospheric moisture." We are also 

 advised to " distrust an attempt to explain an isolated phenomenon 

 by means of a wide-spread cause." Now it appears to me that 

 Captain Hutton would not have assumed the isolation of the 

 phenomena if he had been fully acquainted with the literature of 

 the subject, and especially my announcement previously referred 

 to. I do not propose to join issue with him in respect to the dis- 

 tinction he seeks to draw between a "glacier epoch" and a "glacial 

 epoch," but merely to show that the phenomena of glaciation are 

 not so isolated as his remarks would lead one to suppose he 

 believes them to be. I am led to make these remarks, because as a 

 student of Physiography I feel very much indebted to Prof. 

 Hutton for the valuable information supplied by his writings 

 concerning the geological structure, flora, fauna, and climatology 

 of New Zealand, and I should be sorry to know that he laboured 

 under any misapprehension as to the nature and extent of the 

 evidences of glaciation in the Australian Alps. Following the 

 publication of the papers of myself and Prof. Hutton we have one 

 by Prof. Tate, F.G.S., of South Australia, (3) read before the 

 Royal Society of that colony, in which are stated very clearly the 



(1) J. Stirling, F.G.S., F.L.S. On the Evidence of Glaciation in the 

 Australian Alps. Trans. Roy. Soc. Vict., 1885. 



(2) Prof. Hutton, F.G.S- On the supposed Glacial Epoch in Australia. 

 Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1885. 



(3) Prof. Tate, F.G.S. On Post-Miocene Climate in South Australia. 

 Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., 1885. 



