282 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



can Tbe easily paralleled. They represent respectively that action 

 of wave and current that strips a beach of all its contents, and that 

 distributive action which may part the large shingle from the small, 

 and the sand from both. Mr. Grodwen Austen, describing the 

 manner in which the materials of long lines of beach may be 

 entirely swept away, stated that he had " seen, at one time or 

 another, nearly every portion of our south coast in the condition of 



bare rock without sand or shingle " — (Q. J. G. S., vol. vi., 



p. 72.) I have myself described an extraordinary instance of stripping 

 in the case of the sands at Blackpool, near Dartmouth, in April, 

 1881, when the eastern half of the beach was laid bare. — (Trans. 

 Dev. Assoc, vol. xiii., p. 345.) Extreme cases of stripping, such as 

 that at Blackpool, cannot be attributed to mere wave action during 

 severe gales. Grales from all quarters are common enough on the 

 south-west coast ; but, though acquainted with Blackpool beach for 

 more than five-and-twenty years, I have never heard of the eastern 

 end being stripped except on the occasion referred to. 



One of the keys to the problem of the distribution of beach- 

 material will probably be found in the fact that, whereas shingle 

 on a beach must go with the wave, sand must go with the strongest 

 current. If wave and current unite, the beach will be stripped ; if 

 they act in opposition, the beach-material will be distributed. 



A good instance of shingle and sand travelling in contrary 

 directions will be found on the north-western shores of Lyme Bay, 

 between Hope's Nose and Teignmouth. There is good evidence 

 that between these points shingle travels from S. W. to N. E., that 

 is, from Hope's Nose towards Teignmouth, and that sand travels 

 from N. E. to S. W., the contrary direction. 



On the 23rd October, 1880, there having been a heavy easterly 

 gale on the preceding day, I visited Babbicombe, and was there in- 

 formed by the coastguardsman on the Down that the beach had 

 been washed away from the Babbicombe side of the bay to the Oddi- 

 combe side, i. e. from S. W. to N.E. 



Before the gale referred to, a little cove, behind the Gary Arms 

 Inn at Babbicombe, contained sufficient shingle to accommodate a 

 bathing-machine, as is shown in a photograph taken by Messrs. 

 Frith & Co. in 1878, and described as the " Bathing Beach, 

 Babbicombe." A photograph taken by myself in January, 1884, 

 depicts it as a gully between the rooks, strewn with huge stones, 



