lxiv. 



been removed by tbe action of the rain, or as the ground 

 moraine of glaciers? Was there ever a time when large 

 masses of ice descended down tbe gullies and discharged the 

 ice-borne materials into a lake ? We know that such an agency- 

 is at work in New Zealand, and in past times its glaciers 

 descended far lower than their present termini. 



I cannot connect the accumulation of the loess with the 

 glacial phenomena about to be described, and though the glacial 

 theory of its origin may account for the facts, yet it does not 

 follow that the theory is true. 



One familiar with the appearance of a glaciated country 

 cannot have failed to recognise a certain resemblance that our 

 hills bear thereto. Mr. Woods writes :— " Indeed, it seemed 

 to me that there were very distinct marks of snow, and the 

 action of glaciers. This would declare the range to have been 

 once of extraordinary elevation, probably the axis of some 

 former continent" (Greol. Obs., p. 20). I shall be asked at once 

 whether glacial inscriptions have been found — the grooves, 

 strife, and polished surfaces so characteristic of tbe rocky 

 surfaces over which glaciers have travelled. I answer that such 

 traces of moving ice do occur. They are — (1) Smooth, striated, 

 and grooved rock surface in the bed of the Inman, Cape Jervis 

 Peninsula, as recorded by Mr. Selwyn in the following terms : 

 — " The direction of the grooves and scratches is east and west 

 in parallel lines,' and though they follow the course of the 

 stream I do not think that they could have been produced by 

 the action of water, forcing pebbles and boulders detached from 

 the drift along the bed of the stream. This is the first and 

 only instance of the kind I have met with in Australia, and it 

 at once attracted my attention ; strongly reminding me of the 

 similar markings I had so frequently observed in the mountain 

 valleys of North Wales." 



I may quote en passant the words of Mr. Howitt (Quart. 

 Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xxxv., p. 35, 1879) referring to glacial 

 signs in the mountain-tracts of Grippsland, Victoria : — "I have 

 nowhere met with grooved or scratched rocks, &c, or any traces 

 of ice-action ; and I think that had such existed they would 

 have been met with ere this. Mr. Selwyn has, I believe, already 

 noted this. The only features of the country which I think 

 could in any way suggest glacial conditions are the apparently 

 ancient lake-basins near Omeo." 



In all the discussions which I have read on the question — 

 Did Australia participate in a glacial period analogous to that 

 of the Northern Hemisphere ? — I find no reference made to Mr. 

 Selwyn's observation, quoted above ; probably because unknown, 

 possibly because of its uniqueness. Recent discoveries confirm, 

 however, the correctness of that gentleman's interpretation of 

 the signs. 



