REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 279 



A close exanaination of this pseudo-erratic shows — 



1. That it exactly resembles the minute current-bedded sand- 



stones interstratified with the glacial beds themselves. 



2. That at its edges it rarely merges into the matrix of the till. 



3. It is clear that the bending of the top part of the mass 



from W.S.W. to E.N.E. was effected while the mass was 

 still in a plastic state. 



It is not easy to account exactly for its mode of origin. Possibly 

 it represents material laid down by some sub-glacial, or possibly en- 

 glacial stream, which by a forward carrying movement of the ice 

 became driven over the top of the ground moraine, and was eventually 

 forced into it, possibly when the mass was in a semi-frozen condition. 

 An alternative explanation is that it may represent material deposited 

 at the bottom of a glacial moulin, in which case it would represent 

 the infilling of a structure analogous to a " giant's kettle." 



The lie of the longest axes of this remarkable mass is N.N.W. 

 and S.S.E. On the whole, the author is inclined to the former of the 

 two theories as to its mode of origin. 



Summary. 

 The author wishes to emphasize the following facts : — 



1. The section at Wynyard may be taken as a type for the rest 

 of Australasia. It shows in the most clear and unmistakable manner 

 that the chief horizon for the Permo-Carboniferous glacial beds is at 

 the very base of the Permo-Carboniferous system, and considerably 

 below — stratigraphically — the horizon of the Greta Coal Measures. 

 The same conclusion has already been formed by the author in regard 

 to the Permo-Carboniferous glacial boulder horizon at Lochinvar in 

 New South Wales. This section is, therefore, of great importance 

 in the light which it throws on the exact stratigraphical horizons of 

 the Bacchus Marsh glacial beds of Victoria, of Permo-Carboniferous 

 age ; the glacial beds of Hallett's Cove, near Adelaide, in South Aus- 

 tralia, of the same age ; and those of the Irwin, the Gascoyne, and the 

 Wooramel rivers in Western Australia. 



In the opinion of the author all these horizons may now be re- 

 ferred to the basal beds of that series in the Permo-Carboniferous 

 system known as the Lower Marine. 



2. The Wynyard evidence shows that even as far south as that 

 latitude the ice was still moving from some gathering ground still further 

 south, probably considerably further south, if one can judge of its 

 distance at all by the thickness of the glacial beds themselves. For 

 example, in the case of the Pleistocene glacial beds of Europe and 

 North America, as well as in the case of the Permo-Carboniferous 

 glacial beds of South Africa, it is found that they are thickest in those 

 areas which were at the margins of the great ice sheets ; whereas they 

 thin out or completely disappear towards the centres of radiation of 

 such ice sheets. 



