Proceedings of Learned Societies. 461 



ferous schistose forraations, which comprise an Upper, a Middle, 

 and a Lower portion ; and upon these occur a series of Tertiary de- 

 posits, the lowest of which may, however, possibly be of Upper 

 Mesozoic date, while the upper, consisting of a freshwater and a 

 marine series, are unconformable to it, and are decidedly much more 

 recent. In describing the auriferous formations, Dr. Hector stated 

 that the quartz-veins occurring in the schists were not often true 

 " fissure-reefs " (that is, reefs that cut the strata nearly vertically 

 and have a true back, or wall, independent of the foliation-planes), 

 but are merely concretionary laminae that conform to the planes of 

 foliation ; the gold occurs segregated in the interspaces of this con- 

 torted schist, but is rarely found in situ. Dr. Hector observed that 

 the period of the eruption of the early Tertiary volcanic rocks must 

 have been one of upheaval, and that the great depth of the valleys, 

 which have been excavated by glacier-action since the close of that 

 period, proves that the elevation of the island, at least in the moun- 

 tain-region, must once have been enormously greater than it now is. 



The Excavation of Lake-basins in the Southern Alps op New 

 Zealand. — Dr. Julius Haast stated that, respecting the formation of 

 lake-basins by the action of ice, he had, quite independently of other 

 writers, come to the same conclusions in New Zealand that Professor 

 Ramsay did in Europe. Referring first to the submergence of New 

 Zealand during the Pliocene period, and to its subsequent elevation, 

 the author stated that the chief physical feature of the country after 

 that elevation was a high mountain-range, from which glaciers of 

 enormous volume descended into the plain below, removing in their 

 course the loose Tertiary strata, and thus widening and enlarging 

 the pre-existing depressions, the occurrence of which had at first 

 determined the course of the glaciers. The author then observes 

 that, the country having acquired a temporary stability, the glaciers 

 became comparatively stationary, and therefore formed moraines, 

 the materials of which were cemented together by the mud deposited 

 from the water issuing from the glacier; new moraine matter would 

 then raise the bed of the outlet and dam up the water below the 

 glacier, and from this moment, he believes, the formation and scoop- 

 ing out of the rock-basin begins ; for the ice being pressed down- 

 wards, and prevented by the moraine from descending, its force 

 would be expended in excavating a basin in the rock below. 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— Dec. 6. 



Prehistoric Remains in Caithness. — Mr. Laing described some 

 very extensive excavations made in shell mounds, near Keiss, eight 

 miles north of Wick, Caithness. These mounds were chiefly of peri- 

 winkle and limpet shells, mixed with bones, stone splinters, and bone 

 implements of a rude kind. In two of the mounds there were the 

 remains of buildings, with superposed pavements, showing succes- 

 sive occupations. In the lowest strata of the mounds very rude 

 stone implements alone were found ; those in the upper strata were 

 more highly finished, and in one case a pair of shears with bronze 

 blades was foundinthe superficial layer. These implements were mixed 

 with the shells and bones of animals used for food. Numerous frag- 



