OP MAKINE COASTS. 57 



ISLANDS IN THE BALTIC. 



The great island archipelago along the southwestern coast of the 

 Finnish mainland, and thence stretching in a westerly direction towards 

 Sweden, consists of small islands with rocky shores. This is especially 

 the case in the outer part of the archipelago, where the influence of the 

 sea is more conspicuous, and the" finer material is very seldom able to 

 find rest on account of the steepness of the shore. In the inner archi- 

 pelago the beach is covered with boulders ranging from 4 dm. to 1 m. 

 in diameter. Between these boulders the soil consists of sand and grav- 

 el, more or less mixed with clay. In Aland pure sand beaches are very 

 seldom of common occurrence. This is especially the case in the Kokar 

 and southern part of the Sottunga archipelagoes. In the Korpo and 

 Nagu archipelagoes sandy beaches are quite common, but sand dunes 

 do not occur. On the shores of the Kimito Island, the flora of which 

 was studied by the writer in 1893, 1 ) quite a number of sandy beaches 

 are found. Usually it is the innermost part of an inlet, which consists 

 of sand. 



The island Runo on the southern side of the Gulf of Finland is low, 

 and sandy beaches are frequent. A number of observations were made 

 in June and July, 1896. 



On the island 5sel, visited in 1896 and 1898, sand formations were 

 investigated on the southern coast, facing the Gulf of Riga, and at 

 Rootsikull, on the western coast. The sandy shore west of the town 

 Arensburg is at Jerwe formed by a very narrow strip of beach, and then 

 rises to a steep sand bank, 12-15 m. high, on which a number of low, 

 circular dunes occur. 



The material, of which these are composed, is a comparatively fine 

 sand, the average size of the grains from 16 samples being 0.3 mm. The 

 salinity of the sea water at this place was found to be 0.82 per cent, 

 with a surface temperature at noon of +16.6° C. The shore is open to 

 the waves from south. 



On the Swedish side of the Baltic the large island Gotland has 

 sandy shores, especially at its northern end. Their vegetation has been 

 studied especially by Johansson?) The present writer only visited 

 the coast near Visby on the western, and at Ronehamn on the eastern 



1) Bidrag till kannedomen om floran i Kimito skargard. — Acta Soc. IT. 

 Fl. F. XI. No. 11. 1895. 



2) Hufvuddragen af Gotlands vaxttopografi och vaxtgeografi. — K. Sr. 

 Vet. Ak. Handl. 29 : No. 1. 1897. 



IAbrary Publications. 4 



