SOUNDING SHORES 



167 



ever, the beach has its marked irregularities 

 such as sand spits thrust seaward, bays inter- 

 sected, inlets cut through, depressions, eleva- 

 tions, steps, platforms, terraces, runways. The 

 wind will carve a thousand fantastic shapes 

 from banks of sand; the wearing waves will do 

 no less for the beaches. 



The fineness or coarseness of the shore sands 

 is usually dependent upon the nearness of the 

 cliffs. The closer to the rocks, the coarser will 

 be the stone and gravel. The shorter quarter- 

 circle beaches are usually found in between the 

 gaps of a rocky coast, and mingled with their 

 sands will be found all sorts of pebbles — flints, 

 agates, granites, porphyries. Here also will be 

 found the shells of molluscs, the spiney casings 

 of sea urchins, sprays of coral, claw of crab, 

 tooth of shark, and conch of stromb. Winding 

 ribbons of the deep, frail in form and color, are 

 interwoven with long sea grasses; and caught 

 in the meshes of these are pink star fish, gas- 

 tropods lying lifeless in their gay-hued houses, 

 and Portuguese men-of-war with iridescent 

 float collapsed and tentacles frayed and torn. 

 Both the flora and the fauna of the sea pre- 

 fer the coarser beaches because they afford 

 better feeding grounds, and at the same time 

 greater protection. There is shelter to be had 



The irregu- 

 lar share. 



Beaches of 

 stone and 

 gravel. 



Strewn on 

 the sands. 



