52 THE SAND STBAND FLORA 



of Brazil. Brackebusch has contributed to the knowledge of the sand 

 flora of Argentine. The coast plants of Japan have been treated by 

 Imamura. 



Mention may also be made of the general description of dunes which 

 is contained in Eichthofen's "Piihrer der Forschungsreisende," as being 

 a valuable and suggestive treatise. 



The present writer has published several papers on sand formations 

 in connection with the inquiry referred to in the following pages. 



II. OBSERVATIONS ON CERTAIN SAND FORMA- 

 TIONS. 



BALTIC COASTS. 



It has been claimed by certain authors, as Vogt, for instance, that 

 maritime dunes are formed only on coasts with tide phenomena. Accord- 

 ing to him sand particles are thrown up on the shore at high tide, and 

 having been dried during low tide, they are subsequently carried inland 

 by wind. The dunes on the northern coasts of the Baltic where there is 

 no visible tide, as well as the extensive dune formations near many inland 

 seas in America, for instance, show, however, that tides are not necessary 

 for the formation of dunes. 



A remarkable coincidence exists between the topographical form of 

 the coast, and the development of dunes. This is nowhere more evident 

 than on the Baltic coasts. 



The east coast of Sweden washed by the Gulf of Bothnia, the Aland 

 Sea, and the Baltic, is almost everywhere rocky, and extensive sand for- 

 mations occur only at a few places. The northernmost location where 

 observations have been made by the writer, was at the mouth of the Dal 

 river, where a visit was made in October 1897. On a very limited area 

 there are sandy beaches, and in one place a few embryonic dunes have 

 been formed on the upper beach. The sand was of a yellowish color, and 

 consisted of medium sized quartz grains, with some admixture of felspar. 

 On the middle beach there were some light accumulations of mould. The 

 sand was slowly drifting back and forth along the beach forming beauti- 

 ful ripples. The salinity of the sea water was low. 



At Saltsjobaden near Stockholm, at Ostana, and Sandhamn, minor 

 sand formations were visited in 1896, '97 and '99. Only beach forma- 



