156 Senry S. Eoworth — Elevation of Eastern Ada. 



I have elsewhere^ referred to the fact that even in the basal beds of 

 the Carboniferous (Horton series) there are footprints of quadrupeds 

 of larger size than Hylonomus, which were digitigrade, and had 

 a length of stride comparable with that of modern carnivorous 

 mammals. I therefore anticipate the discovery, in these Lower 

 Carboniferous beds, of reptiles of as high or higher grade than those 

 hitherto found in the Coal-formation or Lower Permian, throughout 

 which periods the same or similar forms seem to have prevailed. 



n. — On the veey Eecent and Eapid Elevation of the 

 Highlands of Eastern Asia. 



By Henry H. Howorth, Esq., M.P., etc., etc. 

 {^Concluded from our last Numher, p. 104.) 



THESE opinions of Mr. Campbell, however clearly and pre- 

 cisely stated, are so strong and emphatic, that I wish to con- 

 firm them by those of another experienced geologist, who worked 

 much among the Himalayas, namely. General McMahon. In "Notes 

 of a Tour through Hangrang and Spiti," published in the twelfth, 

 volume of the Eecords of the Geological Survey of India, he describes 

 the existing glaciers and their remains in the district, and then 

 says: "I do not know whether any one has ever supposed that the 

 Himalayas were covered during the last Glacial period with an 

 ice-cap, but I may note that whilst I saw nothing to favour such, 

 an idea, I saw much to negative it. The contour of the hills and 

 valleys in those parts of the interior of the Himalayas that I have 

 visited is sharp and angular, and where rounded outlines are seen, 

 they are sufficiently explained by the action of subaeiial forces on 

 comparatively soft and friable rocks. 



" But setting aside the idea of an ice-cap, the question remains — 

 Was there formerly any great extension of local glaciers, and if 

 so within what limits? To this question I answer that, whilst I 

 saw evidence of the former extension of existing glaciers, I saw 

 nothing during my tour to lead me to believe that these glaciers 

 had ever, within a reasonable geological period, extended lower than 

 11,000 or 12,000 feet above the sea. 



" On looking down from a high vantage ground, deep narrow side 

 valleys may be seen on the Upper Sutlej, below that level, in which 

 the course of the streams flowing through them is so sinuous that 

 the sharp headlands formed by their sudden bends interlace like the 

 nuts of cogwheels working into each other. The flow of ice in a 

 glacier being analogous to the flow of water in a river and its 

 tributaries, a grand glacier filling the valley of the Sutlej would not 

 have prevented the flow of ice from the side glaciers into the main 

 glacial stream. But had these side valleys ever been filled with 

 glaciers, the sharp interlacing headlands would have been gradually 

 worn down to smooth surfaces, and the valleys straightened and 



1 Trans. Eoy. Soc. part ii. 1882, p. 653. 



