68 THE AGE OF THE PRINCIPAL [Feb. I904, 



stated his conviction tbat tbe Lago Maggiore was entirely due to 

 excavation by the Ticino Glacier during the Glacial Period. 



The Kev. E. Hill said that he could not follow the Author's 

 argument against ice-filled basins, but agreed with his conclusions, 

 The gravels below the lakes were the proofs. A lake was a barrier 

 to gravel-transport more effectual than a strait to quadrupeds ; and 

 in a time of ice-filled basins the precipitation, chiefly in snow, 

 would be unfavourable to pebble-manufacture. He asked whether 

 there were traces of submerged channels in the lakes. Such 

 would be almost conclusive in favour of the Author's views. 



Dr. J. W. Evans asked whether the Author considered that the 

 sites of the lakes were still actually covered with ice when the 

 depression occurred which caused their formation ; and suggested 

 that the cessation of river-action — as a result of great cold or 

 deficiency in rainfall — was a necessary condition of the origination 

 of lakes by earth-movements, except when such movements were 

 unusually rapid. 



Mr. Whitaker enquired whether any further proofs were 

 available, beyond those adduced by the Author, in regard to 

 the fluviatile origin of the gravels. He pointed out that, in 

 many British river-gravels, remains of terrestrial or freshwater 

 organisms were occasionally found ; and, if such could be obtained 

 from the Swiss gravels, the discovery would strengthen the 

 Authors argument. 



Dr. Jack asked whether the gravels in the lower portions of the 

 lakes, which had been referred to as fluviatile, might not be re- 

 arranged gravel from cones of dejection brought down by lateral 

 streams, subsequently to the erosion of the lakes. He confessed 

 that he was much surprised to hear the Author (as he understood 

 him) deny the former greater extension of the lakes. Every lake 

 that he had ever seen was obviously and visibly shrinking, and it was 

 only a question of time when every lake on earth would be silted up. 

 He admitted that lakes formed ' cataclysmically ' are comparatively 

 rare, but not unknown, even in modern times : for example, he had 

 seen a good many lakes which were formed in the Tarawera district 

 of Xew Zealand, during the eruption of a few years ago. One 

 occupied the site of the famous ' pink and white terraces/ 



The Author, in thanking the Fellows for the kind reception 

 accorded to his paper, observed, in reply, that Prof. Bonney had 

 examined the Limmat gravel-beds with him in 1896, and had ever 

 since taken a kind and keen interest in the subject, and that conse- 

 quently his concurrence in the conclusions arrived at in the paper 

 was of great value, both as to the age of the lakes and the system of 

 flexures which produced them. Prof. Garwood's interesting and 

 welcome explanation of a Spitsbergen glacier bridging the sea 

 (quoted by Martins in 1845) reduced that phenomenon to its true pro- 

 portions, namely to a probable simple overhang of the upper layers 

 of the glacier. With regard to the Italian lakes, he (the Author), 

 although knowing them well, had not yet examined them in detail, . 

 and therefore could not as yet express an opinion as to their age and 



