52 THE GLACIAL PERIOD IN AUSTRALIA, 



The state of preservation of the I'oches moutannees in the 

 Australian Alps, is nothing like so good as in the New Zealand 

 Alps. I am, however, not inclined to ascribe that to a difference 

 in age. I consider it simply as a consequence of the difierence in 

 the rocks ; there hard metamorphised slates, here granite. 



The difference between diurnal and nocturnal temperature will 

 doubtless also be much greater on Kosciusco, with a continental 

 climate, and nearer the equator, than in New Zealand where an 

 island climate prevails, and where the sun is never so hot in the 

 day time. 



I have in another paper (1) drawn attention to the immense 

 amount of weathering caused by differences of temperature, and I 

 think that the rocks on Kosciusco are accordingly exposed to a 

 much more energetic processs of weathering than those in New 

 Zealand. 



These differences I think suffice to explain the difference of 

 preservation of the polished rocks in Australia and New Zealand, 

 and I believe I am therefore justified in considering the glacial 

 period of Australia and that of New Zealand to be isochrone. 



In another paper (2) I have tried to show that this latter was 

 very recent, and we should in that case have to assume that also 

 the Australian glacial period had occurred at a relatively recent 

 date. 



Eesult. 



1. At the time of the glaciation of the Southern Hemisphere, 

 Australia was subjected to a glacial period as well as New 

 Zealand, 



2. The climate was then not very cold so that the glaciers only 

 covered the highest part of the Australian Alps, and were conse- 

 quently very small. 



(1) Vo7i Lendenfeld. Der Tasman Gletscher unci seine Umgebnng. 

 Erganzfmgsheft, Nr. 75 zu Petermanns geografischen Mittheilungen. 

 Seite 42. 



(2) Von Lendenfeld. The time of the glacial period in New Zealand. 

 Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Vol. IX., 

 p. 806. 



