246 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION C. 



seem that the monsoonal winds deposit less moisture in the sub-arid 

 regions, but that the precipitation has been increased farther east by 

 the creation of a plateau which opposes the movement of the monsoonal 

 wind. 



The glacial period also has had a remarkable effect upon the flora 

 of Australia, particularly upon that of Tasmania, from which many 

 types are absent which occur on, the mainland and which should be in 

 Tasmania, and their absence from that island can only be satisfactorily 

 explained by the refrigeration of the climate during the recent glacial 

 period. Especially did the Eucalypts and Acacias suffer, because at 

 that time Bass Strait was outlined already as to its main features. 



The Eucalypts and Acacias of the cold plateaus of New South Wales 

 tell a remarkable story of enforced migration north during the glacial 

 period and an inability to migrate from certain isolated plateau blocks 

 after the passing of the cold period. This is the general conclusion 

 which has been arrived at by Cambage and Andrews as a result of their 

 inquiry iiito the main types of the eucalypts. 



Neiv Zealand. — The only publication deaing directly with the 

 question of Quaternary Climate, as far as NewZealamd is concerned, 

 is an article by R, Speight, entitled the " Post Glacial Climate of 

 Canterbury " (Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. XLIII., 1911). In this the author 

 suggests that the climate on the eastern side of the Southern Alps 

 during the period immediately following the glacier extension in the 

 Pleistocene and perhaps contemporaneously with that extension, was 

 of pronounced steppe character ; that this period was succeeded by a 

 rainy one, and that following on this, the modified steppe climate 

 existing at present was established. The evidence for the existence of 

 steppe conditions contemporaneous with the glacier extension is as 

 follows : — 



(i) The Loess, or pseudo-loess, as it should more properly be 

 called, which is undoubtedly a glacial rock flour deposited 

 on a land surface by wind action, is spread widely over 

 the eastern slopes of the Southern Alps. When this was 

 being formed, the conditions must have been dry and have 

 closely resembled those now existing in parts of Central 

 Asia. Hutton, however, believed the loess to be a marine 

 silt, but he stands alone in attributing its formation and 

 deposition to marine action, 

 (ii) Many plants now existing on this area are of markedly 

 xerophytic habit. This feature was noted by Diels and 

 Cockayne as being too pronounced in all probability for 

 their present environment, and was considered by both 

 these eminent botanists to be a survival from a former 

 period when the climate was more arid and steppe like. 



