THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 105 



THE OCEAN BEACH, SORRENTO. 



By D. Le Sou'ef, C.M.Z.S. 



{Read be/ore the Field Naturalists' Cluh of Victoria, 9th September, 1901.) 



The Ocean Beach at Sorrento is always a place of much interest 

 to a naturalist, either in watching the mighty rollers coming 

 irresistibly towards the shore, which, as they reach it, rear their 

 mighty crests and curling over come tumbling down with a 

 thundering roar, which seems to make the ground one stands on 

 tremble ; or in studying the geology of the weather-worn cliffs ; 

 or in watching the various sea birds searching for their food in 

 the broken waters, or perhaps casting their keen eyes along the 

 beach, as they fly overhead, for any food that may have been 

 thrown up by the waves. 



As the tide recedes it leaves barriers of rock exposed, and in 

 the various pools of crystal-like water may be found many 

 examples of small fish, crustaceans, and seaweed. Each pool is 

 in itself one of Nature's beautiful pictures, while at the end of the 

 reef, where the water is of a considerable depth and where the 

 huge, long, trailing masses of Kelp are kept in ceaseless motion by 

 the restless sea, larger crayfish and fish are to be found, and they 

 can often be seen on or near the sandy bottom, where the Kelp is 

 not so thick. 



The cliffs of hard dune sandstone rock are fissured in all 

 directions. The ceaseless action of the waves is slowly but surely 

 wearing them away, faster in some places than in others, according 

 to the resisting power of the cliffs. A sandy beach seems frequently 

 to be a sign of a rising coast, and rocky cliffs of a receding coast 

 line, where masses are continually falling, being undermined by the 

 action of the waves ; but it is not an invariable rule, as, for instance. 

 Albatross Island, out in the Straits, which is rising, yet for all that 

 has a rock-bound coast without a particle of sand or beach, and no 

 anchorage, but in course of time it may have both. 



The dune sandstone reefs, which Professor J. W. Gregory says 

 are post-eocene, are covered at high water, and they are ex- 

 ceedingly hard, probably owing to the mineral action of the sea 

 water, and therefore they wear away comparatively slowly. In 

 them, and well towards the outer edge, has lately been found the 

 fossil remains of a large extinct kangaroo, which Professor 

 Gregory has identified as belonging to the genus Palorchestes. 

 Visitors as a rule would never think of looking for fossil remains 

 in these rocks ; however, this specimen is plainly visible in the 

 stone, but is only exposed when the tide is well out. The white 

 bones stand out clearly in the dark rock. 



It is often surprising to see what immense power the waves 

 have ; for instance, a block of stone weighing about four tons, and 

 which was well in towards the shore, had been lifted up and 



