56 



It is easy to attribute each isolated feature of glacial phe- 

 uomena to some other cause ; but will any other agent than 

 glacier ice satisfy all of them, taken collectively ? — the shear- 

 ing of rocks, furrowed, scratched, and polished surfaces, and 

 morainic debris. 



Mr, Scoular has unwittingly succeeded in contradicting him- 

 self by attempting to prove too much. When having satisfied 

 himself that the glaciated surface at Black Point is the result 

 of the attrition of blown sand he appeals to similar markings 

 " showing evident signs of having been affected by atmospheric 

 iind aqueous agency — the combined action of the atmosphere 

 and the periodic waterflow." 



JElevation of sea level and origin of Pliocene Drifts. — The appli- 

 cation of CroU's hypothesis demands, according to the opinion 

 of Mr. Scoular, the elevation of the sea level around our shores 

 to 800 or 1,000 feet. This may be true, but if the land has not 

 moved since then our drift-beds should be marine ; yet, Mr. 

 Scoular has failed to prove them to be so, w^hilst the palaeonto- 

 logical evidences strongly favour the view of their subaerial 

 origin.* 



I am unacquainted with marine Pliocene beds in South Aus- 

 tralia, or even in Australia. We have nothing equivalent to 

 the Wanganni system of New Zealard, therefore the marine 

 equivalents to the Pliocene Drifts, if extant, are submarine. 

 If, therefore, an elevation of the sea level to a height of about 

 1,000 feet took place during our glacial period, and as no co- 

 temporaneous marine debris occurs, it is a necessary deduction 

 that the land stood so much higher then than now, to escape 

 the submergence. 



Again, if the low level plains are of marine origin, why not 

 the upland plains, which present the same characteristics ? In 

 the case of the Willochra plain, an elevation of sea level to a 

 height of 1,500 feet is required for its marine origin ; in the 

 case of the Terowie plain, rather more ; and in that of Yarcowie, 

 close upon 2,000 feet. Here Mr. Scoular is very inconsistent, 

 for, w^hile inadvertently admitting the lacustrine origin of the 

 high plains, he will not apply to them the same arguments 

 which lead him to attribute a marine origin to the low-land 

 plains. Surely if the vast area — more than three-fourths of 

 the whole settled parts of South Australia — had been buried 

 beneath the sea some vestiges of its marine fauna would have 

 been forthcoming. 



Purther, a greater elevation of the land is demanded by the 

 extension of the drift deposits below sea level. In the Ade- 

 laide bore the drift beds have a thickness of 69 feet, their base 



* Trans. Eoy. Soc. S. Aust., vol. II., pp. Ixii., et. seq. 



