250 NOTES ON THE DAVENPORT GRAVEL DRIFT. 
On the contrary, we find the gravel invariably deposited in the oppo- 
site direction, that is to say, in beds dipping away from the lake, and, 
in some instances, nearly at right angles to what may have been the 
plane of the beach. 
There seems only one way of accounting for this peculiarity, con- 
sistent with phenomena observed at the present day, and yet in 
harmony with the theory of formation already advanced. 
We find on many similar drift deposits going on at the present 
time around Lake Ontario, as well as around all the great lakes, that 
the winds and waves under certain conditions produce results which 
will readily account for the peculiar stratifications at Davenport. 
It is, however, unnecessary to go farther than the formation already 
referred to in front of Toronto for an illustration. The long nar- 
row spit which forms the eastern half of this formation, and which 
connects it with the main land, is perhaps under precisely the same 
conditions that the Davenport ridge was in with Lake Ontario at its 
supposed higher level. This modern spit is so low that it is not at 
all times above water; at the present moment a considerable extent 
of it is under water, at other times it is all or nearly all barely above 
the lake level; but, whether above or below water, it is exposed, 
when the wind blows point blank on the shore, to a destructive as 
well as an accumulative action, destructive on the outer or lake side 
and accumulative on the inner side. 
These combined actions were observed by many a few years ago, 
when the special attention of the citizens of Toronto was drawn 
to the breach formed near Privat’s hotel. Their effect on the 
deposit was chiefly to move it nearer the main shore, the materials 
being lifted by the waves from the outer slope and deposited on the 
inner side. 
This action of the waves is not confined to a particular point. It 
may be witnessed to a greater or lesser degree along the whole 
extent of the spit, whether it be above or below the surface of the 
water, when the waves break on the beach at an angle not too acute. 
This difference, however, may be remarked: Where the summit of 
the ridge is above water, waves of greater force are required to wash 
the materials composing the beach over to the inner side. 
The consequence of this action, continued year by year, must 
necessarily be a gradual recession of the formation and a stratifica- 
tion of its beds dipping towards the main land. The first agrees 
