278 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — 1915. 



adoption of any distinctive age-term, at the present time, is undesir- 

 able, as future investigations may lead to more than one readjustment 

 of our ideas, with the consequent inconvenience of alteration of nomen- 

 clature. All these difficulties can be overcome by the agnostic attitude 

 implied by the employment of a local name. I do not think all palseon- 

 tologists "have taken into account, to a sufficient extent, our great 

 distance from other parts of the world, and the absolute certainty of 

 mingling of different streams of biological migration, which here bring 

 together apparently contradictory assemblages of organisms. 



4. I am inclined to believe that the main epoch of glaciation was 

 that represented by the Lochinvar Glacials of the Hunter River. I 

 think that cold conditions continued throughout the period, with locally 

 extended distribution from time to time, probably governed very largely 

 by geographic accidents. On the Irwin River, for instance, we have 

 distinct evidences of floating ice in the sandstones immediately above 

 the coal seam, i.e., probably in the equivalents of the Greta series. 

 The vast bulk and apparent continuity of the Glacial beds in South 

 Australia and Victoria, I suggest, is due to the fact that these were 

 essentially land areas at the period, and continued to be glaciated even 

 at those times when local retreat of the ice cap prevented the wide 

 distribution of glacial materials by floating ice. Local glaciers, which 

 suffered from shrinkage to a less extent than others, may account for 

 the apparent differences in age of the minor Glacial beds in different 

 States. The recognition that on the Manning and Macleay Rivers of 

 New South Wales the main glaciation is Lower Marine extends the 

 geographical limits of the ice-action of that particular phase in Eastern 

 Australia, while the beautiful sections of the Irwin River district in 

 Western Australia are, at least, not unfavourable to the assumption of 

 absolute contemporaneity. I am therefore inclined to answer yes to 

 question 4. 



Question 5. With the slight modifications suggested on the accom- 

 panying table (VII.), I agree with the correlation. 1 am of opinion that 

 for the reasons stated in my answer to 1, 2, 3 — namely, the mingling 

 of migration streams — biological comparisons are less trustworthy than 

 are the features of a great climatic revolution, in the correlation of beds 

 in widely separated regions. 



Question 6. I am unable to answer definitely. 



Question 7. My paper, ' Preliminary Note on the Geology of the 

 Kempsey District ' (' Journ. and Proc. Roy. Soc, N.S.W.,' vol. xiv. 

 1911, pp. 159-168), indicates the strong probability of conformable 

 passage from Carboniferous to Permo-Carboniferous in the central 

 coastal area of New South Wales. 



Question 8. I cannot express a very definite opinion. In August 

 next I hope to examine the Irwin River area again with some care. 

 I shall bear this question in mind then. 



