156 ME. J. B. SCEIYEXOK ON [J'une 19 1 2, 



laid down under precisely the same conditions as the Gondwana 

 rocks, the palaeontological evidence, such as it is, points to its 

 having been deposited during part of the Gondwana Period on a 

 shallow coast-line, which may without a great stretch of imagi- 

 nation figure as an extension of the Gondwanaland coast-line, 

 whether that debated land covered the whole Indian Ocean or 

 not. 



It is unnecessarj' now to occupy space by giving references to 

 show til at the general opinion is that, at the close of the Carboni- 

 ferous Period or thereabouts, there was a large extent of land under 

 glacial conditions, covering in part what are now India, Africa, 

 and Australia. It is, I believe, generally acknowledged that such 

 was the case, and therefore it would not be altogether surprising to 

 tind, overlying the limestone of Kinta, beds that show signs of glacial 

 action. I believe that the only satisfactory explanation of the 

 peculiarities of the Gopeng Beds is that they are in some way due 

 to glacial action ; and, although correlation by other than palaeonto- 

 logical evidence is as a rule unsatisfactory, these characteristics of 

 the Gopeng Beds, if admitted to be due to glacial action, give 

 ■as valuable a point from which to commence a comparison of 

 the geology of the Federated Malay States with that of other 

 •countries, as do the collections of fossils that have hitherto been 

 ©Stained. 



The peculiarities to which I refer have been described above, and 

 need not be enlarged on here ; but it will certainly be objected that 

 no mention has been made of marks on the boulders or of glacial 

 pavements. The reason is that neither have ever been found, and 

 apart from the corundum boulders, are not likely to be found : for, 

 in a country where weathering can, by the removal of silica, 

 reduce a mass of hard conglomerate to the consistency of cheese 

 without any disturbance of the position of the pebbles, as I have 

 lately seen in a railway-cutting, it is not to be expected that 

 a glaciated limestone pavement will retain its glaciated surface 

 long under a bed of moisture-sodden clay, or that boulders in that 

 •clay will long preserve delicate surface-markings. The corundum, 

 of course, does not weather so easily ; but corundum is not easily 

 scratched. ^Nevertheless, as it is quite possible that during the 

 progress of a glacier corundum may have been ground against 

 •corundum, and since some of the smaller pebbles are beautifully 

 rounded, search has been made among the boulders at Pulai and 

 Tekka for such evidence of glacial action. The result has been, 

 however, that while fine markings are frequently met with, these 

 inust be interpreted as hollows between minute veins showing up 

 •on the surface of the boulders (the veins being of corundum also), 

 and that nothing has been found that can be described as a scratch 

 due to ice-action. 



If we remember, then, how unfavourable are the conditions for 

 the preservation of striae or grooves on the surface of the boulders 

 or on the limestone floor, and the probability of glacial deposits 

 ^occurring above the Kinta limestone, we must admit that the 



