86 
The S.ind-linding Plunts 
[no. 1, NEW SERIES, 
corapanying figure will illustrate the way in which hillocks are 
formed by the constant encroachment of sand. 
This figure is intended to represent sand-hills placed perpendi- 
cularly to the direction ,.of the prevailing winds. The wind 
pushes the sand from the bottom a to the top 3, it then falls in the 
nually in motion. 
Sandy and irregularly irrigated soil can only produce shrubby 
and herbaceous plants ; it's vegetation, suspended during the dry- 
season, revivifies during the rains, and covers with a transitory car- 
pet of verdure, the era-th which appears naked and sterile during 
the rest of the year. 
The drifting in of great masses of sand is, I understand, one of 
the greatest obstacles to the perfect success of the Eastern Coast 
Canal, now in progress near Madras. The drift occurs from both 
sides, but chiefly from the sea. 
Along Canals, in which the level of the water i3 nearly con- 
stant, the banks at different heights are in different conditions of 
moisture and frequently also of soil : so we see certain species of 
Grasses, Bulrushes, &cc. placed above each other in regular narrow 
parallel bands forming a kind of girdle, beyond which the soil be- 
comes too dry on one side, and too wet on the other, for them to 
prosper. 
1. Spmifex squarrosus, Linn, the species known to Europeans 
by the designation of " Ground Rattan" comes nearest to the Sand 
Carcx of England in its habit of growth, creeping along horizontally 
sometimes above, sometimes below the surface of the earth, emitting 
roots and shoots at short intervals of a few inches. It likewise pos- 
sesses the advantage of being extremely tenacious of life; the shoot 
at every node is capable of renewing the existence of the individual 
• Also called " Sea Pink," these names are both popular misnomers, the correct 
dcsisnation is " Spinifex" of Botanists. The T»niil name, J?avo«en mwe, i. e. 
"Whiskers of Karauah, is a descriptive epithet. 
direction be. A hillock therefore will always increase if fresh 
sand is supplied in front, or be removed, if the sand be kept conti- 
