CHAPTER Xm 

 THe open Sea Beach 



THE seashore is an interesting place even 

 to those who have no scientific attain- 

 ments nor taste for natural history. 

 The abrupt change from the land to the 

 illimitable stretch of sea is startling and stimu- 

 lating. Along the shore Hne the restless surf, the 

 rising and falling of the tide, the odd and strange 

 forms of marine life, fragments of wrecks, and 

 material drifted from foreign shores, — all have a 

 suggestion of mystery and therefore fascination. 

 Burroughs has said of one on the sea beach: 

 "He stands at the open door of the continent and 

 eagerly drinks in the large air. ' ' To the naturalist 

 who knows something of its life; who can, by 

 study of its Uving fauna, read the history of the 

 land, the seashore is the most fascinating place in 

 the world. 

 Along the west coast from Cape Romano to 

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