Account of Glacial Deposits of Bacchus Marsh. 63 



Ramsay describes " brecciated conglomerates," consisting of 

 " pebbles and large blocks of stone, generally angular, 

 imbedded in a marly paste." Man}- of these stones are as 

 well scratched as those found in modern moraines, or in 

 boulder-clay. Similar boulder-beds occur in Scotland, 

 Ireland, and Gei'many. Mr. Wallace (" Island Life ") states 

 that these phj'sical indications are corroboi'ated by a 

 consideration of the life of the period, which is characterised 

 by its poveity. In India, similar Permian boulder-beds 

 occur, in which large striated stones and boulde)-s are found. 

 In one instance, the rock surface beneath this deposit was 

 glacially scored and striated. These beds have beeti corre- 

 lated with similar ones in South Afiica, also of Permian age. 

 Mr. G. W. Stow has, according to Dr. Ramsay, given 

 elaborate accounts of these South African boulder-beds. He 

 says that in Natal the great masses of "moraine matter" not 

 only contain ice-scratched stones, but the underlying rocks 

 are well rounded and mammilated, and covered by " deeply 

 incised glacier giooves " in a direction that at last leads one 

 to the p)'e-Permian mountains, whence the stones forming 

 the moraines have been derived. In Natal, the striated 

 rocky floor is only 30° south, and in India, only 20° north of 

 the equator. 



That evidence of severe glaciation should be found in the 

 same period in both hemis))heres, and so near the equator — 

 being actually within the tropics in one case — is a strong 

 argument in favour of the astronomical theory, betokening a 

 much wider cause than mere local elevation. This being the 

 case, we might expect to find traces of a glacial period during 

 Permian times here in the more southern parts of Australia. 

 The position of our lower glacial conglomerate, or till, is 

 quite compatible with its being of Permian age, and when to 

 this we add the considerations just noted, this conclusion is 

 much strengthened. There is a strong break in the flora at 

 the close of the Permo-carboniferous series in New South 

 Wales (Prof David, Address A.A.A.S., 1890). It is possible 

 that this break may correspond with a Permian glacial 

 period. 



Now, as regards our upper till. We have not as yet been 

 able to arrive at any very definite conclusion as to the age 

 of this deposit. As we have seen, it lies on the denuded 

 surface of the Triassic rocks, and is certainly overlaid by 

 the Pliocene basalt. That it is also overlaid by the older 

 basalt admits of little doubt, for although this basalt occurs 



