for the year 1868. 3 



opinion upon the absence of those groovings and striations 

 left by the mighty slip of glaciers and icebergs — for in the 

 northern hemisphere these are not found lower than the 40th 

 parallel of latitude — but rather upon the subtropical cha- 

 racter of our tertiary fauna ; he concluded his paper by say- 

 ing, "A true glacial epoch in New Zealand would be a 

 puzzling fact, and very difficult to reconcile with what we see 

 in Australia/' and stating his belief that the Australian conti- 

 nent is now passing through a colder period than any of 

 which we can find evidence in its previous geological history. 

 On the same subject, and discussing these views, Dr. Haast, 

 an honorary member of this Society and geologist to the 

 Province of Canterbury, New Zealand, contributed a paper, 

 which was read at the October meeting. Referring to Mr. 

 Wood's paper,- he stated that he had traced glacial action 

 over the whole length and breadth of the south island 

 of New Zealand ; he does not accept Mr. Wood's conclusion, 

 with respect to the non-existence of evidence indicative of 

 our continent having passed through a glacial period, and 

 points out that if geologists want to find traces of this epoch 

 they must look for it in the Australian Alps, where morainic 

 accumulation may have been preserved around the lakes ; 

 but from the small altitude of this chain, he expects these 

 will be of small extent and dimensions. 



Mr. Thompson read a paper " On the Formation of Mineral 

 Veins and the Deposit of Metallic Ores and Metals in them," 

 at our October meeting. In the present stage of our know- 

 ledge of geological changes, the mode of occurrence of 

 minerals in veins and the formation of the latter, present 

 almost insuperable difficulties to the clear comprehension of 

 them. This subject, although it has taxed the energies of 

 Hopkins, Bischoff, and other superior minds, may be con- 

 sidered as still unsolved. In Mr. Thompson's paper, his 

 conclusions are based upon observations of particular cases, 



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