_North of England._—According to Professor Ramsay and some other geologists the brecciated, subangular conglomerates and boulder beds of the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland and the North of England are of glacial origin. When these conglomerates and the recent boulder clay come together it is difficult to draw the line of demarcation between them. Professor Ramsay observed some very remarkable facts in connection with the Old Red Sandstone conglomerates of Kirkby Lonsdale, and Sedburgh, in Westmoreland and Yorkshire. I shall give the results of his observations in his own words. “The result is, that we have found many stones and blocks distinctly scratched, and on others the ghosts of scratches nearly obliterated by age and chemical action, probably aided by pressure at a time when these rocks were buried under thousands of feet of carboniferous strata. In some cases, however, the markings were probably produced within the body of the rock itself by pressure, accompanied by disturbance of the strata; but in others the longitudinal and cross striations convey the idea of glacial action. The shapes of the stones of these conglomerates, many of which are from 2 to 3 feet long, their flattened sides and subangular edges, together with the confused manner in which they are often arranged (like stones in the drift), have long been enough to convince me of their ice-borne character; and the scratched specimens, when properly investigated, may possibly convince others.”[159] _Isle of Man._—The conglomerate of the Old Red Sandstone in the Isle of Man has been compared by Mr. Cumming to “a consolidated ancient boulder clay.” And he remarks, “Was it so that those strange trilobitic-looking fishes of that era had to endure the buffeting of ice-waves, and to struggle amidst the wreck of ice-floes and the crush of bergs?”[160] _Australia._—A conglomerate similar to that of Scotland has been found in Victoria, Australia, by Mr. Selwyn, at several localities. Along the Wild Duck Creek, near Heathcote, and also near the Mia-Mia, Spring Plains, Redesdale, localities in the Colony of Victoria, where it was examined by Messrs. Taylor and Etheridge, Junior, this conglomerate consists of a mixture of granite pebbles and boulders of various colours and textures, porphyries, indurated sandstone, quartz, and a peculiar flint-coloured rock in a matrix of bluish-grey very hard mud-cement.[161] Rocks similar to the pebbles and blocks composing the conglomerate do not occur in the immediate neighbourhood; and from the curious mixture of large and small angular and water-worn fragments it was conjectured that it might possibly be of glacial origin. Scratched stones were not observed, although a careful examination was made. From similar mud-pebble beds on the Lerderderg River, Victoria, Mr. P. Daintree obtained a few pebbles grooved after the manner of ice-scratched blocks.[162]