PBOCEEDTNGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. IO3 



2. "The Glacial Period in Australia." By K. von Lendenf'eld, 

 Ph.D. (Communicated by ^Y. T. Blanford, LL.D., r.R.S., Sec. G.S.) 



[Abstract.] 



Although several previous writers have suggested that boulders 

 and gravels found in different parts of Australia are of glacial origin, 

 the evidence is vague, and no clear proof of glaciation has been 

 brought forward. During a recent ascent of the highest ranges in 

 Australia, parts of the Australian Alps, the author succeeded in 

 discovering a peak which he named Mount Clarke, 7256 feet high, 

 and in finding traces of glaciation in the form of roches moutoanees 

 throughout an area of about 100 square miles. The best-preserved 

 of the ice-worn surfaces were found in a valley named by the author 

 the Wilkinson Yalley, running from IN'.E. to S.W., immediately south 

 of Miiller's Peak and the Abbot Eange. No traces of ice-action 

 were found at less than 5800 feet above the sea. 



The rocks showing ice-action are all granitic, and the fact that 

 the surfaces have been polished by glaciers is said to be proved by 

 the great size of such surfaces, by their occurrence on spurs and 

 projecting points, by many of them being worn down to the same 

 general level, and by their not coinciding in direction with the joints 

 that traverse the rock. 



In conclusion the author briefly compared the evidence of glacial 

 action in Australia with that in New Zealand. 



Discussion. 



The President said that he considered that more evidence was 

 necessary in order to establish the point contended for by the 

 author. All his proofs were founded on granite, which had a con- 

 stant tendency to form rounded bosses. The fact that the supposed 

 roches moutonnees occurred on spurs rendered the matter still more 

 doubtful, seeing • that in small glaciated tracts such surfaces were 

 chiefly found in valleys. It was a remarkable and, to him, a very 

 suspicious fact that no moraines or perched blocks were noticed. In 

 fact the only point of importance adduced in favour of the author's 

 view seemed to be the difference in the direction of the joint-planes 

 and of the rounded surfaces, and this he thought insufficient. 



Mr. BLA]srpoE,D agreed with the President, and mentioned examples 

 of the occurrence, in the plains of India, where glaciation was out 

 of the question, of granite surfaces simulating roches moutonnees, and 

 of larger dimensions than those cited by the author. It seemed to 

 him not impossible that Dr. von Lendenfeld was right; but the 

 evidence brought forward was certainly not suflicient. The circum- 

 stance most in favour of a glacial origin for the supposed roches 

 moutonnees was their restriction to a particular elevation. 



3. " The Physical Conditions involved in the Injection, Extrusion, 

 and Cooling of Ig-neous Matter." By H. J. Johnston -Lavis, M.D., 

 F.G.S., &c. 



[Abstract*.] 

 The great disproportion between the displays of volcanic acti\dty 

 * This paper has been withdrawn by permission of the Council. 



