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On Parasitic Vegetable Organisms in Calcareous Particles 

 of the Gabbard and Galloper Sands. 



By J. G. Waller. 



Bead March 28th, 1884. 



PLATES XIII., XIV., XV. 



It is of frequent experience in the pursuit of a subject, which, at 

 first sight, may seem to be bounded by narrow limits, that our views 

 become the more and more extended the more we advance. This 

 is at once the charm and the exciting incentive of science, and parti- 

 cularly that which belongs to natural history. When I began the 

 subject of " Sand," I thought I should end with the determination, 

 that the chalk flints, on our southern and eastern coasts, were very 

 insignificantly represented, even in the midst of their debris of 

 shingle ; and that the great factor of our shore sands, as well as of 

 that of ancient deposits, was quartz. I soon became convinced, 

 however, that several questions, relating to the origin of this abundant 

 material, were involved in the inquiry — difficult to account for, or to 

 explain — but which might be solved by an extensive examination 

 of deposits, ancient and modern. Thus it was, I interested my 

 friend, Mr. John Inglis, Secretary of the Trinity House, to procure 

 me specimens of sand from the shoals off the coast, which were 

 under the jurisdiction of that corporation, at such times as con- 

 venience served. Amongst numerous specimens, thus obtained, were 

 some from three sands lying off our eastern coasts, mainly between 

 the estuary of the Stour and Orwell and that of the Thames. These 

 are named in charts as the u Inner and Outer Gabbards " and the 

 " Galloper." The nearest of these is the " Inner Gabbard," which 

 is twenty-three miles eastwards from the estuary of the Stour and 

 Orwell. It is about 2^ miles long, and not quite half a mile wide, 

 a measure taken from its upper surface, and, at low tide, has from 

 two to three fathoms depth of water over it. About 5 miles 

 distant from this, east by north, is the " Outer Gabbard," whose 

 measure, taken in the same manner, is but | of a mile full long, and 

 of a somewhat less diameter than the last. About 9| miles S.W. 



