51 



rglaciation o£ the southern hemispliere the climate was then not 

 Tery cold, so that the glaciers only covered the highest part of 

 the Australian Alps, and it is not likely that glaciers existed 

 anywhere else in Australia at the time." Doubtlessly in a 

 certain sense we should look rather towards the high elevations 

 for glacier signs, as there the glaciers would be the last to dis- 

 appear ; but as the lowland tracts may have longer preserved 

 the scorings, scratchings, and other evidences of the passage 

 of land ice by the protecting superficial coverings laid down 

 over its retreating path, we may hope to be more successful in 

 a search here than at the highest elevations where the process 

 of weathering is so much more energetic and persistent. So 

 far as regards the higher levels of the Mount Lofty Range, ice 

 marks are not at all likely to have been preserved on the friable 

 sandstones which everywhere crown elevations above 1,800 

 feet. 



[Postscript. — Dr. Lendenfeld "draws attention to some 

 further evidences of ice action in the Mount Lofty group, near 

 Adelaide, where some glacier-polished rocks, with some very well 

 preserved striae have been discovered and photographed." — 

 Abstract of Proc. Lin. Soc. N.S. Wales, July 29, 1885. In 

 the absence of particulars I cannot be positive, but there is 

 strong circumstantial evidence that this so-called discovery 

 relates to the ice-worn surface at Black Point, Hallett's Cove, 

 which was photographed by Mr. H. T. L. Brown, Government 

 Geologist, copies of which were sent by him to Sydney. Pollow- 

 ing upon the very severe strictures on the observations of self 

 and others in reference to the presence of glacial signs, this 

 admission of Dr. Lendenfeld — the prince of sceptics — must re- 

 move all doubts as to their value.] 



Mr. Stirling* has recently announced the presence of ice- 

 worn and scratched rocks and other glacial signs at elevations 

 as low as 1,000 feet above sea level in the Omeo district, Vic- 

 toria. 



Mr. Secular's antagonism is the m.ost serious, because he has 

 examined the glaciated surface at Black Point, which he at- 

 tributes to the action of blown sand ; but I will defer for 

 awhile my criticism on that gentleman's observations and de- 

 ductions that I may now deal with a phase of the inquiry of 

 fundamental importance, namely : — 



THE EXTINCTION OF THE ARID AEEA IN AUSTRALIA DURING 

 THE GLACIAL EPOCH. 



It seems to me that the authors so strongly opposed to the 

 glaciation of southern Australia take for granted that it never 

 existed, and therefore reject the evidences as vague, or explain 



* Eoy. Soc. Victoria, July, 1885. 



