494 T ransactions. 



Granite Harbour, 3, — ■Finer grain of "r>.H.. 2"; minerals apparently 

 identical. The rock breaks in slab form, asirl thi> mica shows tendency to 

 mark out a parallel structure. 



.'^ Granite Harbour, 4. — The w^hole specimen is practically one mass of 

 feldspar. No visible quartz. There is some dark mica partially leached 

 and largely altered to chlorite, which occurs also lining a joint-face. 



Granite Harbour, 5. — A grey rock, fine-grained admixture of dark 

 greenish-grey crystals and dirty-Avhite ; the specimen is a thin slab. Grey- 

 brown diallagic augite, ophitic, with very slight pleochroism. Between 

 the augite plates, labradorite-feldspar in moderately stout forms, frequently 

 zoned. Occasional patches of micro-pegmatite ; no porphyritic quartz. 

 Some ilmenite. Small widely separated spots of red-brown mica, asso- 

 ciated witli the augite. Quartz-augite-mica-diorite. 



Note on Glacier-recession, by T. V. Hodgson. 



A great deal has been said and written about the retreat of the ice 

 from north to south, and the glaciers from low to the higher levels. This 

 has been based upon the fact that the edge of the Great Ice Barrier is some 

 miles further south than it was when seen by Ross in 1839-40. 



The various sledge parties encountered many glaciers the extremities 

 of which do not reach the sea, or even come within reasonable distance 

 of it. One fact must impress the Antarctic explorer, and that is the thin- 

 ness of the ice-sheet and the large proportion of exposed rock. The thick- 

 ness of the ice on the inland plateau is purely conjectural, and with the 

 appliances of the average sledge party it would be impossible to measure 

 it. Theoretical calculations have shown that ice cannot exist at a greater 

 thickness than 3,000 ft., and one feels — for one can do nothing else — when 

 in those regions that there is no reason to believe that it might possibly 

 be more than this. 



I would ask, what right have we to accept so readily the assumption 

 that the temperature-conditions are becoming less severe, and that there- 

 fore the ice-cap is receding ? It appears to me that the evidence is very 

 weak at the best. 



To begin with the Barrier, the amount of recession is small compared 

 to its enormous area. It is greatest on the eastern side, where we have 

 absolutely no knowledge whatever as to the source of supply. As com- 

 pared to the momitains of the west, King Edward VII Land, from the little 

 that has been seen of it, is low-lying country, and if such should ultimately 

 prove to be the case it may also prove to be the larger feeding-ground. 



Only in one spot has the rate of movement of the Barrier been 

 measured. It was a rather crude measurement on a sledge journey near 

 Minna BluflE, and is probably only local ; it works out roughly at about 

 a quarter of a mile a year. There is no evidence whatever as to the seasonal 

 fluctuations of this ice-sheet : a series of mild or of severe seasons seems 

 to me to be amply sufficient to account for the difference in the position 

 of its northern face. The icebergs met with by the " Discovery " were for 

 the most part very small, and I think I am right in saying that none 

 of them were over three miles long. 



As to glaciers, many of them do not come down to sea-level, but end 

 abruptly, frequently at some considei'able distance from it, and it is very 

 much open to question if they have ever been anywhere near sea-level. 



These facts have been interpreted as proof positive that the glaciation of 

 the region is receding, it being regarded as certain that in no very far distant 



