1 66 NOTES ON THE GLACIAL BEDS NEAR WYNYARD. 



used with the greatest discretion only, and unless sup- 

 ported by other evidence it is at times completely mis- 

 leading. 



This certainly applies to the fauna from the Wynyard 

 sandstone. There is not the slightest reason to assume 

 that it would be of Eocene age because none of the 

 species could be identified with specimens living nowa- 

 days. The fauna of Bass Strait is a very modern one; 

 it can have only migrated to its present habitat after the 

 formation of Bass Strait, and it is a priori very probable 

 that it has very little in common with the much older 

 fauna from the Turritella-sandstone. 



But let us assume for the sake of argument that the 

 Turritella-sandstone is of Eocene age. The inclusions 

 of fossiliferous sand in the upper part of the moraine 

 seem to indicate a close connection between the glacial 

 drift and the overlying fossiliferous sandstone. This 

 being so, we have established the existence of a Tertiary, 

 that is to say Eocene glacial period. Now, however, dif- 

 ferent the opinions of geologists may be, there is not 

 one dissenting voice with regard to the climate of the 

 tertiary period. They all agree that the Tertiary was a 

 period of warmth, but not of cold. The establishment 

 of a tertiary glacial period in Australasia would be so 

 much in opposition to all accepted views that it required 

 much better and stronger proofs than we have now 

 before we could accept this theory. 



Now, let us presume that the moraine is of palaeo- 

 zoic — that is to say, of Permian age. In that case, the 

 fauna of the Turritella-zone would also be of permian 

 age, a theory whose absurdity must even strike a 

 beginner in palaeontology. Whatever the age of the 

 Turritella-sandstone may be, its fauna is of such a 

 modern habitus that anything else but a tertiary or post 

 tertiary age is out of c]uestion. 



It is therefore certain that neither the eocene age 

 of the Turritella-sandstone nor the palaeozoic age of the 

 glacial drift satisfactorily accounts for the intimate rela- 

 tionship between the two as indicated by the fossiliferous 

 inlayers. This could only be explained if we were to 

 assume that the moraine is of diluvial age, or, as it is 

 generally called out here, pleistocene age. 



