600 Transactions. 
black peaty layers in which, notably at the new Silverstream dam, occur 
a few prostrate tree-trunks of the genus Nothofagus. In the peaty clay 
near Abbotsford Railway-station and at the new dam occur decomposed 
moa-bones 
In reference to Mr. Grange's remarks, I wish to say that few or none of 
the boulders I have seen in this deposit occur in the condition usually 
described as 
proportion semi-rounded, and many slabby and angular. All the rocks are 
voleanie, and the rounded forms are, to my mind, the result of decom- 
position and exfoliation, a common occurrence with all igneous rocks. 
Even with residual clay still in place the undecomposed cores of rock are 
usually rounded or spheroidal as a result of slow underground decom- 
si 
ition. 
The blue clay passing upward becomes yellowish-brown by oxidation, 
and resembles an кугш residual brick-clay. It contains scattered 
ulders, some of which are 4ft. or more in diameter. Many varieties of 
volcanic rock are, ent: кеа among the boulders; and this, 
together with the peaty matter and tree-trunks, precludes the possibility of 
the boulder-clay being a residual clay, of which, be it vui: there are many 
fine examples in situ on the Maori ridge above Dun 
As viewed under the microscope the silt that occurs as pockets in the 
blue clay is seen to consist of fresh rock-flour. The blue clay itself occurs 
in sporadic pockets at different altitudes, and I can only conclude that it 
acc Pasce in hollows where the glacial waters were ponded by coe 
on the northern foothills of the European aor and aii Mountains, in 
Aberdeenshire and Morayshire, in the lake country of England, in north 
e. on the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, and on the shores of Puget 
und. In common wit many other observers, I found that where the 
кыса glaciation had been free of the influence of the northern ice-sheet 
the constituent boulders were of purely к origin ; and, of course, in New 
. Zealand it could hardly have been otherwi 
Grange further remarks that, М he beds in question a glacial 
origin, boulders of E would naturally occur in them. This also wo 
appear to be the result of a misunderstanding. The Abbotsford basin is 
ringed on three sides by high hills crowned by volcanic шю. while the 
schist ве жа only the lower ridges near Ferntown, to the s 
the flow of the ice had been from south to north one di certainly 
expect to find boulders of mica-schist in the boulder-clay formation; but 
there is nothing whatever to show that this was the case. On the con- 
trary, it seems more reasonable to believe that the ice flowed southward 
from the relatively higher Flagstaff gathering ground towards the Fern- 
town schist, than to conceive that the flow was northward and up-grade 
against the superior weight of the ice descending from the Flagstaff volcanic 
area. In my paper on " The Great Ice Age of New Zealand " I stated my 
belief that the flow was towards e south—that is, па bie sc. 
area. I may here add that I know of no agency other than capable 
of forming such a heterogeneous deposit as the Abbotsford boulierclay 
Mr. Grange does not help us with any Каный тэн suggestion as to its 
rigin. 
A recent re-examination of the deposit in question more fully than ever 
me in my view of 1910. 
