REPORTS OF RESEARCH COMMITTEES. 351 



of the series were certainly of glacial origin. Eut he was of the 

 opinion that the glaciers were located in moiuntains, and, there- 

 fore, as in the case of Hutton's Eocene glaciation of Otago, there 

 was no positive evidence oi refrigeration of the climate. In 

 none of the cccurrences mentioned by Hutton or Morgan is there 

 any definite statement of the presence of striated boulders, or 

 ether undciubted evidence cf glaciation, and we may quite well 

 consider the coarse conglomerates to have been carried from ele- 

 vated land in close proximity to the area of deposit by powerful 

 streams and not as having been formed by the assistance of 

 glaciers, though, of course, they may have been present. 



More satisfactory proof cf climatic change may be locked for 

 a-; the result of consideration of the nature and origin of the 

 fauna and flora. The hypothesis of a mid-Tertiary warm climate 

 was maintained by Huttcn and based by him chiefly on the size 

 of the fossil mollusca then existing (Geology of New Zealand, 

 Q.J.Gi.S., vol. XLI., 1885, p. 210). He says:— "Large species 

 of Cifculkea, Ca?rhum spatiosioti, and Turbo superb us suggest a 

 sea warmer than at present ; but with these lived several species 

 which are found as far south as Foveaux Straits, e.g., Valuta 

 iKiei-fica, Triton spcnc/leri, Venus stutchbtir'/i, and Peetuiieiilus 

 laficostatus." A large number of other species could have been 

 indicated whose size far exceeds their representatives now living in 

 New Zealand seas, such as species of Turrit eUa, Feet en, Flariios- 

 toma, JJentalium . Ostrwci. However, Tenison Woods, judging 

 from the character of the corals, came to t,he conclusion that 

 the sea then existing was hardly warmer than at present (Palaeon- 

 tology of New Zealand, pt. IV., Corals and Bryozoa, 1880, p. 4). 

 He says: — " The whole evidence' of the fossil corals shows a 

 climate and an isolation not very different from the conditions 

 which eixist now." 



Marshall and Murdoch, in a recent paper (Tertiary Rocks near 

 Wanganui, Trans. New Zealand Inst., vol. 52, 1920. pp. 125-6). 

 have confirmed Hutton's conclusion by showing that at a certain 

 stage in the beds of the Wanganui series there is a sudden and 

 marked reduction in the size of the mollusca, which suggests a 

 cooling of the seas in the Wanganui area towards the end of the 

 Tertiary era. 



In considering the whole question of the temperature of the 

 New Zealand area during these times it must be always borne in 

 mind that in all probability these was no' moiintain chain forming 

 the backbcne of the country, and if any elevations existed they 

 were rather in the form of islands, so that even if the sea tem- 

 perature were little warmer than at present, the land climate 

 would be more equable. If, however, it be conceded that the 

 sea temperature was higher, then the land temperature would 

 also respond and modified sub-tropical conditions would obtain 



