The Foraminifera of the Exe Estuary. 



By 

 R. H. Worth. 



Samples of sand were taken, either from the shore immediately above 

 low water of spring tides, or from the bottom in a few inches of 

 water. 



With one exception no samples were dredged. The localities were 

 few : Polesands ; the north or estuarine shore of the Warren west 

 of Salthouse Lake; the banks of the Salthouse Lake; a low-water 

 stream on the Warren ; near Lympstone ; and (the dredged sample) 

 within Exmouth Docks. 



To appreciate the results it is necessary to consider shortly the 

 physical conditions at the mouth of the Exe estuary. 



The low-water channel of the Exe, which would naturally enter the 

 sea in a southerly direction, is diverted by a spit of land known as 

 the Warren and a sand bank known as the Polesands, turned through 

 a right angle to the eastward, and only after passing some little 

 distance parallel to the coast discharges into the sea. 



That portion of the Polesands which uncovers at low water is 

 chiefly, if not entirely, pure sand ; the surface is in no way compacted, 

 bat is unstable and ridges, furrows, and travels with every tide. 



The Warren consists of sands, gravels, and shingles, with patches 

 of fair-sized pebbles, and to the westward compact clays. 



From the presence of these clays it may be surmised that the 

 western end of the Warren is a genuine spit of land ; the eastern end 

 and the Polesands are alike due to littoral drift. 



The mouth of the Exe is more exposed to southerly than to easterly 

 gales, and breakers from the southward drift the beach across the 

 estuary, and drift it in greater quantity than the tidal current of the 

 ebb, setting out from the estuary, can remove in the intervals between 

 successive gales. 



Easterly gales, which are rare, and are to some extent fended off by 

 the coast-line, have been unable to drive the sand and shingle back to 

 their original postion westward and southward of the harbour mouth. 



In course of time the limit has been reached at which the tidal 

 scour of the ebb, and the breakers from the eastward, suffice to check 

 the further easterly advance of the bar. 



The channel between the Polesands and the land has adjusted itself 



