NATURAL HISTORY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY OF NEW BRUNSWICK 
459 
need for some combination of great storm and tide to place the 
core of drift wood above reach, of all ordinary tides explains the 
fluctuations in the breadth and elevation of the beach lines; die 
greater may represent the result of some unusual combination of 
these influences. Further it may be that fluctuations in the supply 
of the drift wood will explain the variations in the regularity of 
the beaches. Thus it may be that the lesser size and greater regu- 
larity of the inner beaches may be correlated with the fact that 
they were formed prior to the days of lumbering when the sup- 
ply of drift materials would be both smaller and more regular 
than since the settlement of the country. Further, causes of 
minor irregularities in the outer beaches are found in the opera- 
tions of the residents nearby whose cattle destroy the beach grass 
allowing the dunes to blow to pieces, and whose wood-gathering 
teams cut the beaches in various ways. 
So much for an outline of the formation of this interesting 
place. My study of it was very general, and much remains still 
to be made out. It will repay a far more detailed study than I 
was able to give it. 
A plain-building on another principle is in progress now 
south of Goose Light. Formerly this coast was fringed by a 
single beach inside of which was a line of ponds, surrounded by 
bog and marsh, including several ponds shown on the Admiralty 
chart of 1838 .but now replaced by bog or marsh. In recent times, 
as a result, I am told, of the destruction of the beach grass by 
cattle, this outer beach is being blown by the wind on and across 
the old marsh and bog, covering it with a sand plain and forming 
new beach lines against the upland. In this way Herring Creek 
and Goose Lake have been greatly lessened in size and are now 
threatened with total extinction. At first I thought that Grande 
Plaine itself had been formed in this way, — by the advance of the 
beaches over a flat country carried by the sinking of the land 
under the sea; but further study has convinced me of the cor- 
rectness of the explanation above given. Near Herring Creek, 
both on the north and south of its former outlet, occur the highest 
and most typical sand dunes I have found in New Brunswick. 
