352 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTTON, 1917. 



In the southeast corner of the Alps the depression of the snow line 

 was much less than elsewhere, being only about 800 meters both in 

 the Wurm and Riss periods. This deviation the authors attribute 

 to the fact that owing to elevation the Adriatic, from wdiich this 

 region draws its supply of moisture, lay at a much greater distance 

 than it does now so that the rainfall was less. Elsewhere the amount 

 of rainfall appears to have been similar to the present, westerly 

 winds still being the chief rain bearers, and the glacial periods were 

 caused by falls of temperature, not by increases of rainfall. This 

 is further borne out by the changes in the fauna and flora. 



A few remarks may be made about the contributions of other au- 

 thors to the discussion of Alpine glaciation, R. Lepsius (118) is the 

 only author in recent years who has disputed the fourfold glaciation 

 of the Alps. A paper at the International Geological Congress at 

 Stockholm in 1910 explaining all the Alpine phenomena as due to a 

 single glaciation was badly received and its very apparent weak- 

 nesses pointed out by most of those who took part in the discussion. 

 The modest values attributed to their interstadial periods by Penck 

 and Briickner have been emphasized by various authors. A. Schulz 

 (119) considers on botanical grounds that the interstadia between 

 the Buhl, Gschnitz, and Daun stadia were warm and dry; A. von 

 Hayek (120) postulates one warm-dry period only which he puts in 

 the Gschnitz-Daun stadium. A. Gutzwiller (121) finds that at Basle 

 the younger loess overlies the lower terrace and was formed in the 

 pre-Buhl interstadium. J. Hug (122) has shown that at Zurich 

 the Rhine during the Mindel-Riss interglacial cut down 10 to 30 

 meters below its present bed; and afterwards filled its valle}^ w^ith 

 high terrace gravel. The Rhine erosion during this interglacial is 

 estimated at 210 meters. Further, between Basle and Schlalfhausen 

 the lower terrace of the Rhine is divided into two parts, at 30 meters 

 and 18 meters above the river; the former passes into the outer 

 glacial wall, so that the latter must correspond to the retreat moraines. 



A serious criticism of the views of Penck and Bruckner is made 

 by H. Obermaier (123), who entirely rejects Penck and Briichner's 

 correlation of the archeological and geological stages, putting the 

 Chellean in the Riss-Wurm interglacial instead of in the Mindel- 

 Riss, the Mousterian in the Wurm glacial period, and the Aurigna- 

 cian and Solutrean post-Wurm. Tliis paper does not seem to have 

 much value in itself, since it is supported largely by the ingenious 

 manipulation of Penck's own data, but it represents the views of a 

 number of French geologists. Its proof or disproof largely hangs 

 on the coiTelation of the Alpine giaciations with those in other 

 countries. 



