624 Reports and Proceedings — 



Suffolk was formed ; but the author is not convinced that this 

 formation is represented south of the Thames except by the " Trail " 

 of the Eev. 0. Fisher. In the sixth and last stage the Atlantic ice 

 retreated as far as the north of Scotland, but the sea had not re- 

 turned to its former level. The British Isles were connected with 

 the continent and with each other. To this the author assigns the 

 last great forest period, and the arrival of Neolithic man and the 

 associated fauna from the continent. 



Discussion. — Mr. Hicks stated that he had noticed that the glaciation at St. 

 David's is from the north-west. He had already stated before the Society his 

 opinion that there had been depressions proceeding from a point in the Atlantic, 

 probably not far from the coast of South America, to the north-west and north-east; 

 and this might perhaps have something to do with causing a flow of ice from Green- 

 land to the south-west in North America and to the south-east in Europe. 



Eev. 0. Fisher wished to know what would be the area of the great freshwater 

 lake supposed to be produced by the damming action of the great Atlantic glacier. 



The Author stated that the area blocked up by the ice would be about 40,000 

 square miles (2000 x 200), and would include all the region drained by the present 

 northern rivers. 



Prof. Hughes wished to know why the waters could not drain off by way of the 

 Black Sea, and why the advancing Atlantic glacier should be supposed to stop just 

 at the western point of Cornwall. He could discover no evidence of there ever 

 having been a lake such as the author described. The drift gravels were the result 

 of all the agencies of denudation which had ever been at work, and the boulders at 

 the bottom of the low-ground drifts were probably due to the fall of debris from 

 the summits. The boulders of the drift, if the author's theory were true, ought to 

 consist of Greenland rocks, whereas they were really of local origin. "With regard 

 to the direction of glaciation in Britain and Northern Europe being from the north- 

 west, he could not agree with the author. In many places glaciation might be 

 observed running in every direction ; and it was not fair to note only certain stria?, 

 and neglect those which were not in favour of a foregone conclusion. He thought 

 that Mr. Campbell had shown clearly that the glaciation of Ireland took place from 

 the north-east. 



Mr. Moggridge remarked that a very flat country extended across the continent of- 

 Europe from England to the Black Sea, and thought that in that direction there 

 was no land sufficiently high to form the boundary of such a lake as that required 

 by the author's theory. 



Rev. T. G. Bonney said that, in addition to the difficulties which Prof. Hughes 

 had mentioned, four others at least occurred to him : — That the barrier to Mr. Belt's 

 lake was defective between the highlands of Brittany and the Auvergne ; that the 

 ice in its course from Greenland would have to cross a part of the Atlantic where 

 the. depth approached 2000 fathoms, which seemed to demand an inconceivable 

 accumulation in that country ; and that under such circumstances Wales, Scotland, 

 and Scandinavia must have had their own ice-systems ; and that to reach Scandinavia 

 (which certainly had its own ice-system), this great sheet must have crossed the 

 Lofoten Islands, yet all the higher hills in these were remarkably sharp and broken. 

 Further, in regard to what Mr. Belt had said about the lowering of the general 

 level of the sea, it must be remembered that such an ice-cap would raise the level in 

 the hemisphere where it occurred. 



The Author, in reply, said that he did not want the ice to stop at Cornwall, but 

 that his statement as to its limits was founded on observed marks of glaciation. He 

 thought the absence of marine remains throughout the drifts of the northern plains 

 of Europe was a highly important and suggestive fact. With regard to the glacia- 

 tion of Ireland, he remarked that the ice flowing south-east from Greenland would 

 strike against the high lands of Scotland and England, and be turned back over 

 Ireland. The lowering of the sea was not absolutely required by the necessities of 

 the paper ; but if the accumulation of ice took place simultaneously at both poles, 

 the sea must necessarily be greatly lowered. 



