44 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE, 



'POINT LOMA, THRUSTING FORTH A 



MASSIVE BULWARK AGAINST A 



SUNSET SKY 



we succeeded only in getting' an excel- 

 lent likeness of the rocks of the break- 

 water. 



As we stroll along the beach its 

 smooth surface is broken by a long 

 curved row of little projections sug- 

 gestive of ruins — of a ship or of some 

 marine animal? Examination proves 

 them part of a long curved spinal col- 

 umn ; we counted fourteen vertebrae 

 on the portion protruding from the sand. 

 What strange, prehistoric creature 

 has lain buried beneath these sands 

 to be uncovered by the raging, tear- 

 ing surf? Development of our photo- 

 graph developed also the fact that dur- 

 ing the preceding summer a whale 

 was washed ashore on this coast and 

 ils bones still lie there to be uncovered 

 and buried again by the ever shifting- 

 sands. 



At times the beach, hard as a floor 

 and glittering with a substance that 

 looked like flakes of gold, seemed ab- 

 solutely bare of shells but we followed 

 the receding tide far out where the 

 sands were wet and there, thrusting 

 up vvedge-shaoed ends, were multi- 

 tudes of the little Donax. When the 

 shell is dead it lies open like a pair of 

 dainty wings upon the sand but these 

 were alive, tightly closed and stand- 

 ing upright with the small point of the 

 wedge thrust into the sand while the 

 little animal within sent out tiny feel- 



ers, seeking its recurrent cold bath in 

 those tumbling waves. It almost 

 seemed a cruelty to gather the little 

 things and take them home to be 

 plunged into a bath of scalding water 

 but such is the fate of the beautiful. 

 These rainbow colored, dainty mark- 

 ed jewels, suggestive of moss agate, 

 can be formed into a beautiful mosaic 

 to frame a picture. 



The Floridian and Californian 

 species of this shell are so similar that 

 Augusta Foote Arnold says, 'The 

 increasing number of similar species 

 being found on the Atlantic and Pa- 

 cific sides of Central America points 

 to the existence of a water way be- 

 tween the two oceans at no very re- 

 mote geological period." 



Coronado is not considered an es- 

 pecially good beach for shells, yet we 

 always find the dainty pearl-white 

 wings of Macoma secta, so thin and 

 frail that they must be handled like 

 eggshells. Large specimens of the 

 Trochidae, "turban" or "topshells," 

 are gathered here ; of pyramidal shape 

 their rough, brown epidermis makes 

 them appear unattractive at first but 

 they are lined with mother-of-pearl 

 and' capable of taking exquisite polish. 

 Those we gather often show little pro- 

 jecting" knobs — already polished by 

 the rough treatment of the surf — 

 gleaming with pearly hues. 



"AN EXCELLENT LIKENESS OF THE 

 ROCKS OF THE BREAKWATER' 



