BLAKENEY POINT IN 1913. 
717 
forms being met with. These have been placed on record 
in Publication No. 1, and breeding experiments are in progress 
to determine whether these forms are constant and, in general, 
the nature of their relation to one another. 
Mobile Ground. 
The mobility of the main shingle beach is one of the out- 
standing features at Blakeney Point. Shingle from the crest 
and sea front is liable to be scattered down the lee slope in 
heavy weather — the aggregate result of the operation being a 
slow but steady advance of the bank in a landward direction. 
To elucidate fully the resulting structure of the beach, 
numerous trenches were opened at appropriate spots and their 
profiles plotted. Other cuttings were made through the old 
consolidated Watch House lateral bank and through a new, 
and as yet unconsolidated, lateral formed during stormy weather 
in 1911. The results of these excavations have been brought 
together and will be published shortly. 
Hydrodynamics. 
Another question closely associated with beach physics is 
that of the constant presence of fresh water in the shingle 
beaches even throughout periods of prolonged drought — as 
during the summer of 1911. Many of the plants which grow 
on the beach depend for their existence on fresh water, and if 
wetted by the sea, as during onshore gales in summer, turn 
brown and wither away. When holes are dug in the shingle 
fresh water is generally found, whilst a well sunk close by the 
Lifeboat House last July, within 50 feet of high-water mark, 
has yielded ample supplies of fresh water for all purposes. 
The fresh-water table tapped by this and other wells rests on 
the salt-water table of the sea, as its level rises and falls with 
the spring and neap tides : at the same time the water is not 
contaminated — the percentage of chlorides in the wells being 
practically negligeable. The whole question of the hydro- 
dynamics of maritime shingle (which has an economic bearing 
as well as being of scientific interest) is receiving attention. 
