380 TIlC Auurica/L Geologist. December, ISSi* 
they are reasonably plentiful. The general direction of striae 
in this vicinity is south-southwest. Some fifteen miles to the 
east the direction is south. Roches mountonnees arc abundant 
in the surrounding- district, but in the limited area under dis- 
cussion such forms are not evident, although some of the 
rounded bosses of fresh rock may be of this nature. Still they 
do not show glacial striae as do similar forms elswhere. 
Third: The cguntjy; rock is decaying and from it baulders 
of disintegration and soil are forming. This rock disintegra- 
tion is the prominent feature which obtrudes itself upon the 
notice of one entering this area. In the surrounding country 
weathered rock is unknown, having been removed by glacial 
action; postglacial weathering extends only a small fraction of 
an inch below the surface; and there is no residual soil. 
The disintegrated rock and the consequent absence of 
glacial striae might possibly be due to postglacial weathering, 
but this would not account for the absence of drift. There is, 
however, no reason to refer this decay to postglacial w-eather- 
ing. The underlying rock is identical with that in the im- 
mediately adjacent district which is not weathered, and the 
difference in present condition is not referable to original dif- 
ferences in the country rock. The decay is not postglacial, but 
preglacial or possibly interglacial. It is evident that the area 
under consideration was not subjected to the action of moving 
ice, at least during the last glacial advance. 
The cause of this is not so evident, but a probable ex- 
planation is to be found by assuming that this area was covered 
bv a mass of stagnant ice over which the general ice advance 
took place. The area, while not a marked valley, still is lower 
than any district of corresponding size in the adjacent country, 
except on the southwest where the altitude is less. Three miles 
to the north of the eastern part of this area is a prominent ridge 
rising 200 to 450 feet above the general surface and trending 
east and w^est. Five miles to the south is another higher ridge 
running northeast and southwest. In the general southerly 
advance of the ice a stagnant mass very probably was- formed 
on the lee side of the first mentioned ridge or between the two 
ridges. There is, however^ evidence of moving ice on both 
sides of this area but within the district included between these 
two ridges, showing that a mass of stagnant ice did not com- 
