72 MR. F. DEEEMIAM OX A XEW [vol. lxXV,. 



present day. The summer thaw is excessive, and there should be- 

 areas in the deep fiords where the circumstances are favourable to 

 the formation of ice on the nether surface of floating glaciers. 



On reading the account by Mr. G. W. Lamplugh of the shelly 

 moraines of the Sefstrom Glacier, 1 I was immediately struck by 

 what seems to me clear evidence of the same process. The descrip- 

 tion is so precise and so well illustrated that one can picture the 

 occurrence almost as if one had actually seen it. Without so 

 clear an account I could not presume to add to the observations of 

 the author on this wonderful demonstration of the transporting 

 action of ice. Much of the moraine containing the shells was 

 resting upon the ice, and in fact formed roughly-stratified beds- 

 within the body of the glacier, a position which could hardly be 

 attained by any pushing action of the ice on the sea-floor, but 

 exactly what would be expected from the freezing process. In a 

 few patches, seen by Sir Aubrey Strahan, the marine material wa& 

 in its original order, and included in the ice. Ao-ain, the evidence 

 of Mr. H. Trevor-Battye, who saw the glacier at its maximum ex- 

 tension, shows that none of the moraine was supra -glacial, nor was- 

 any of it pushed over the land in front of the ice. The moraine 

 now exposed is, therefore, all ground -moraine or englacial. The 

 evidence of the shells themselves, and their wonderful preservation, 

 is a further support to the view that much of it has been trans- 

 ported vertically as well as horizontally, by slowly rising through 

 the mass. Mr. Lamplugh's description of the lateral moraines of 

 the Yon Post Glacier shows striking similarities with the deposits 

 in the lateral moraines of the Ferrar Glacier, and I am inclined to 

 think that much of the red boulder-clay has been raised from the 

 sea-floor in a similar way. As in the Antarctic cases, a few 

 measurements of the Spitsbergen glaciers made in the light of the 

 above theory should definitely establish the origin of the raised 

 muds, and it is even possible that the necessary data are already 

 available. 



With regard to the deposits left by the Great Ice Age it is 

 obvious that the theory, if accepted, will help to explain some 

 of the anomalies observed in Glacial drifts. Since I can claim 

 no close acquaintance with the shelly drifts of the British Isles 

 myself, it would be presumptuous on my part to attempt any 

 close analogies ; but it may be useful to hint at the bearing which 

 this theoiy may have on the problems that have been investigated 

 by so many great geologists in the past. 



One of the difficulties of the shelly drifts is the state of preser- 

 vation of the organisms. In many cases they are broken and 

 ground down, but in others they are perfectly preserved, with 

 epidermis and ligament intact. On the submergence theory, which 

 means that they were exposed to a gradual elevation, this is difficult 

 to explain ; while, if the sea-floor had been forcibly pushed up by 

 the ice, the motion would hardly leave the shells unharmed. 



1 Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc. vol. xvii (1911) pp. 216 et seqq. 



