1904] KEARNEY: PLANTS OF SEA BEACHES AND DUNES ‘433-— 
cliffs. Well-developed dunes are wanting. The soil is a nearly 
pure quartz sand, much finer than that examined on the coast of 
Massachusetts and of Virginia, and contained much less water at 
the time the examination was made than is usually the case on 
the Atlantic coast. The vegetation amid which the borings were 
made comprised Adronia mariima—with round fleshy leaves and 
showy crimson flowers, Franseria bipinnatifida, Distichlis spicata, 
the succulent glaucous Heliotropium Curassavicum, Suaeda sp. 
(perhaps S. Zorreyana), and Atriplex leucophylla. It is note- 
worthy that in three of these plants—Abronia, Heliotropium, 
and Suaeda—succulency is very highly developed. Heliotro- 
pium, Suaeda, and Distichlis are also characteristic plants of the 
highly saline soils of the interior of California. 
These borings at Long Beach showed a quite uniform salt 
content for the first 3°" of soil, ranging only from 0.12 to 0.15 
per cent. of water-soluble salts. Ata depth of 4-6 the differ- 
ences between the several borings were more pronounced, the 
maximum content being 0.13 per cent. and the minimum 0.02. 
The mean salt content, as indicated by the five borings, is about 
0.13 per cent. in the first 3°", and 0.09 per cent. in the second.’ 
A chemical analysis of this soil was obligingly furnished by Dr. Cameron. 
The total ks content for the upper 6“ of soil was found to be 0.22 per cent. in the 
sample examined. The composition is as follows, each ee being stated in 
percentages of the total amount of water-soluble salts in t 
I. ACIDS AND BASES NVENTIONAL COMBINATIONS 
Calcium - - - - - 2.72 Fete aie Z 
Magnesium - - 3.63 Magnesium arenes - - 17.28 
ium - - - 20.91 Potassium chl - - - - 13.63 
Pot - - . 7.27. + Sodi hlori - - - 41,82 
oh (600 Soe - - 20.00 Sodium bicarbonate - - - 18.18 
Chlorin - 31.84 i 
Carbonic acid “(HCOs) - - 13.63 pecan 
100.00 
Comparing this analysis with that of a salt marsh soil on p. 427, we note that 
magnesium, sodium, and potassium correspond pretty closely in both soils. As would 
be ex ected; the easily leached- out chlorids are relatively more abundant in the 
] 
ing that while the marsh soil contains a mere trace of calcium (not pate ee quan- 
titatively by ordinary methods), ee beach sand contains a considerable amount of this 
ase. is difference may be accounted for by the fact that in the sea water, which is 
canes deposited on the beach by winds and very high tides, calcium carbonate 
e of the first substances precipitated as the water evaporates, and is one of the 
