SCOPE OF THE PAPER. 401 



does not seem to the writer to be any serious objection to the generic 

 use of the term here proposed. The etymology of the two parts of the 

 compound suggests the idea of being built in front of the preexisting 

 mainland. 



Summary. 



In this paper will be considered those forelands which present a more 

 or less sharply pointed form, whose two sides are bounded by shore curves, 

 concave seaward, and which may include within the limits of the deposit 

 water bodies of various kinds and sizes. These are called cuspate fore- 

 lands. Facts are brought forward to show that these cuspate forelands 

 may be divided into three main classes, namely, current, tidal, and delta, 

 according to what appears to be the determining factor in their production. 

 There are also two sub varieties which are due to steps in the process of 

 island-tying, one before a bar completely ties an island to the mainland, 

 and the other when the island is nearly consumed. 



Sea Attack. 



Before discussing the deposits themselves, some of the facts regarding 

 the action of the sea upon the land should be considered. 



The forms of the littoral zone are best understood when regarded as 

 marking stages in the consumption of the land by the sea, as a result of 

 the intention of the sea to reduce the land at last to a submarine platform 

 lying beneath the baselevel controlling subaerial denudation. The sub- 

 marine platform is the ultimate product of the sea action, while the 

 peneplain is a very late stage of subaerial waste ; and as the peneplain 

 approaches but never quite reaches its limiting geometrical plain, sea- 

 level or baselevel, so the submarine platform must have a similar limit- 

 ing plane, which for lack of a better term is here called ivave-hase. The 

 discussion of wave-base will be left to a later paper. 



The agents of the sea are the waves, tides, and currents. Writers differ 

 widely in what they attribute to each of these three agents, and a dis- 

 criminating study of the work of the three is much needed. The present 

 writer is inclined to attribute the attack of the sea largely to the waves, 

 and its transporting action largely to the tides and currents. For the 

 present discussion it is necessary simply to distinguish between the three 

 actions : Attack, on and offshore transportation, and alongshore trans- 

 portation. 



At the beginning of a cycle, when a new portion of the land is pre- 

 sented to the sea, the sea is occupied principally in attack, the waste from 



