264 JESSE E. HYDE 



by a breakwater as to receive waves from the southwest only, 

 while farther west along the shore, as the influence of the break- 

 water became less and less, the waves came from the south and 

 then from the southeast. The beach was examined after a week 

 of calm weather on the day following one on which there had been 

 a slight swell. The sand ripples were found to correspond closely 

 to the direction from which the waves came. Behind the break- 

 water their trend was northwest-southeast, parallel to the waves 

 coming from the southwest, but as the control of the barrier became 

 less and less to the westward, the ripple directions changed to east 

 and west and then to northeast-southwest, as the waves came 

 from the south, and then from the southeast. 



These observations show the independence by wave direction 

 from wind control, the control of wave direction by shore line, 

 and the dependence of ripple direction directly on wave direction. 



The parallelism of waves to coasts is generally known, and 

 examples could be multiplied from the beaches of the eastern 

 United States and elsewhere. Since, however, there is no data as 

 to the direction of the ripples induced by these waves, no other 

 need be added here. 



In discussing the parallelism of the Bedford-Berea ripples with 

 various persons, it has been suggested that it might indicate the 

 direction of the prevailing wind. In the present geological period 

 the direction of the prevailing winds in Ohio is from the westward. 

 But the actual winds experienced, as a result of the cyclonic con- 

 trol of weather, are so variable that it is impossible to assume that 

 the persistency of the Bedford-Berea ripples could be maintained 

 under similar conditions of cyclonic variation, if those ripples 

 were controlled directly by the winds. If they are held to indicate 

 wind direction, we must postulate a series of winds in Bedford- 

 Berea time more uniform in direction, even, than the trade winds, 

 which not infrequently may vary throughout the whole range 

 of the compass in the course of a year, as shown by almost any 

 sailing chart of those regions, and always vary through more than 

 a quadrant of the compass. 



On the other hand, granted that. the winds initiate the water 

 waves, as soon as they come within the influence of shallow water 



