58 



natural drainage of tlie country indicates fhat tlie formation 

 of its bed took place prior to tlie development of the present 

 configuration. The valley and gorge of the Lower Onkaparinga 

 is another example of an old river system. 



Existence of Gum-trees Incompatible loith a Glacial Climate. — 

 Mr. Scoular has referred the drift-wood found in the Pliocene 

 beds to living gum-trees, but on what evidence he does not tell 

 us, though doubtlessly true. But his statement that gum-trees- 

 do not grow at high altitudes is erroneous, as there are several 

 subalpine species — JE. amygdalina ranges to 5,000 feet on the 

 Snowy Mountains, whilst shrubby states of other species locally 

 known as " snow gums" ascend to the edge of the highest 

 plateaux at 6,000 feet. 



Marine Origin of the Upland Miocene. — Mr. Scoular does not 

 adduce any proof of the marine origin of the gold-bearing 

 drifts and coterminous deposits which range up to altitudes of 

 1,000 feet or thereabouts, and ignores the evidences fur- 

 nished by their mechanical condition and the embedded vege- 

 table debris. His facts touching the molluscan life of the- 

 youngest member of the marine Miocene deposits are very 

 incomplete, and his deductions therefrom are very fallacious. 

 It is true that oysters dominate the beds, but they had for 

 associates several species of Pecten, some closely allied to the 

 recent species P. australis, P. bifrons, and P. pleuronectes ; the- 

 living JPlacunanomia lone, and Litcina dentata, Trigonia acuti- 

 costa, a Meleagrina very near to M. margaritifera, Cucullcea 

 Corioensis, a large Donax, and several other bivalves. Among: 

 gastropods Cassis textilis and Haliotis ncevosoides are con- 

 spicuous ; in other classes Clgpeaster Gippslandicus (McCoy) 

 and Balanophyllia sp. are noteworthy. If we may predicate- 

 climate from such an assemblage, it would not be in the direc- 

 tion of a colder climate than which now prevails over the same 

 area. The apparent paucity of species in the oyster beds is 

 probably due to destruction of their shells by the solvent 

 waters freely admitted by these incoherent and superficial beds^ 

 as the majority of the fossils are those with calcitic tests. 



SUMMAET. 



1. That the evidences of the glacier period in South Aus- 

 tralia are numerous and pronounced, and reach as low as pre- 

 sent sea level. 



2. That the glacial phenomena were not local, but are attri- 

 butable to those cosmic causes which produced glaciation at a 

 more recent period in the northern hemisphere. 



3. That the extension of the subaerial deposits of the glacial 

 period below sea level demands elevation of the land at the 

 period of their accumulation corresponding in amount at the 



