12) Rev. R. Ashington Bullen—Molian Deposits at Eel. 
Farther inland comes a fourth terrace, about 50 yards north, on 
which occur large patches of Rosa pimpinellifolia, and also equally 
vigorous sea-grape, Ephedra distachya, L., whose sweet, slightly 
acidulated berries in rank abundance coloured the dunes a brilliant 
coral-red. Also in smaller quantity occurred sea campion, Svlene 
maritima, Withering; a dwarf ribwort, Plantago maritima, L.; and, 
of course, marram grass. What strikes one is the fact that the marram 
grass only occurs where the sand grains become small and therefore 
plays a subordinate part in ‘dune formation’ on this coast. Indeed, 
the mosses and lichens seem of almost equal importance with the 
marram grass in covering and consolidating the finer sand. This 
remark also applies to the sand-dunes of Perranzabuloe and the Trevose 
peninsula. Along this terrace at the foot there is a well-defined 
beach of large quartz pebbles. i 
On the opposite side, the right bank, of the Riviére d’Etel, 
near the lighthouse, where the sand is fine-grained, marram grass 
comes well forward to the advance-guard of yellow-horned poppy, 
Glaucium flavum, Crantz (luteum, L.), not more than 30 yards from 
the sea-front ; the latter plant also occurs in abundance with sea-holly, 
Eryngium maritimum, L., on the second terrace of the left bank above 
described, where the plants are rather more sheltered (see Diagram 3). 
Many other plants also occur in the groups on the third and fourth 
terraces ; it is not, however, the purpose of this article to be botanically 
exhaustive, but only to trace the principal plant-agents in helping to 
consolidate the sand-dunes. Those who wish to do so, will find the 
subject more fully treated in a paper by M. Eugéne Simon.' 
§ 8. On the sand-dunes occur a number of marine shells, many 
of them of considerable size and weight, e.g. Massa reticulata and 
Purpura lapillus. They are found at heights of quite 30 feet above 
the highest tides. It is difficult to account for their occurrence. They 
are not used for human food; these dunes are singularly void of bird- 
life; the dunes are not cultivated by man, nor, so far as one can see, 
have the shells been accidentally dropped in the places where they are 
found by farmers wheeling them across the dunes with seaweed, and 
they occur in places where fishermen’s nets are not dried. Also they 
occur in places where there is no reason to carry them, for there are 
easier ways to the cultivated fields at the back of the sand-dunes. 
Nor, on the other hand, does wind seem to be the direct transporting 
agent. In the violent storm of October 8 last I placed single valves 
of such large shells as Cardium tuberculatum on their convex side; the 
south-west gale simply turned them over and propelled them no 
farther. Yet C. tuberculatum, either as whole shells or fragments, 
occurs plentifully at all levels up to the heights named above. 
Probably the wind acts, in a sense, indirectly in moving molluscan 
and other remains up the sand-slopes to the higher levels. The 
movement of the sand-grains inland is facilitated by the threshing 
action of stranded and moored seaweed, which, detaching the particles 
from the beach, causes them to be borne along in the direction of the 
1 « Notes sur les associations yégétales maritimes’’: Niort. Bull. Soc. Bot. des 
deux Sévres, 1902 (19038), xiv, pp. 242-50. 
