loo SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The channel between Santa Rosa and San Aliguel ; Santa 

 Rosa and Santa Cruz ; Santa Cruz and the Anacapas are from 

 three to four miles in width, while the passages which separate the 

 three Anacapas from each other are, in one, less than a quarter of 

 a mile, the other only sufficiently wide to permit the passage 

 of a row boat. 



This manner of division of the islands is plainly shown at the 

 eastern end of the Anacapas, where an individual arch is left 

 standing at some little distance from the extremity of the Eastern 

 Island, and between it and the island a column which formerly 

 supported two other arches which connected the present arch with 

 the island. 



After the lava flow the islands were submerged and an ex- 

 tensive series of strata of sand, gravel and silt were deposited, of 

 which the greater portion have since been eroded. 



Some of these strata contain well-preserved fossil shells, and on 

 Santa Rosa Island bones and teeth of the Fossil Elephant have 

 been found by the writer and others, showing the connection of 

 the island with the mainland during recent geologic periods. 



In the southern portion of San Diego County there are fos- 

 sil shells of species now found living in the Gulf of Lower Cali- 

 fornia, showing that the region was, until recently, covered by 

 the waters of the Gulf. 



And now, having endeavored to out line the condition of our 

 State in prehistoric times, the next chapter will be devoted to the 

 animals and plants of the same period of the earth's history. 



( To be Continued). 



Plate 6 represents a view from the southwesterly side of Cuyler's Har- 

 bor, San Miguel Island. In this harbor Cabrillo, the Portuguese navi- 

 gator in the service of Spain, who discovered the islands, wintered in 

 1542-43, and it is> where he is said to have been buried. 



The dark portions seen on the northerly shore of the harbor are the ex- 

 posed portions of the volcanic rock, over which the sand (represented by 

 the light-colored portion of the illustration) is driven by the prevailing 

 northwesterly winds. 



These winds are so prevalent during summer, that they are known as 

 "the trade winds" and they are so strong that the\' carry the sand across 

 the channel represented in Plate 3, to Santa Rosa Island, where a por- 

 tion is deposited, to be again carried by the wind across its western end, 

 which is shown in the illustration, and eventually into the ocean. 



The sand accumulates on the top and down the face of the steep bluff, 

 as seen in the illustration, until its weight causes it to slide down into the 

 harbor, like a snow slide from a steep mountain side. An occurrence of 

 this character took place several years ago which attracted widespread 

 notice, and the results of the sudden shifting of such an accumulation was 

 such as to wreck a sloop anchored in the harbor, casting her ashore on 

 the opposite side. 



One of the San Francisco dailies sent a special to investigate, and 

 printed an entire page giving a highly colored account of "The Great 

 Earthquake on San Miguel Island." 



