i 
THE MARINE FAUNA 
OP 
ST. ANDREWS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The beach at St. Andrews combines smooth sandy flats 
with tide-worn ridges of rocks which freely communicate 
with the German Ocean ; and the proximity to rich coralline 
ground renders the products of its storms peculiarly varied. 
An unbroken surface of pure sand extends from the estuary 
of the Tay past that of the Eden to the north-western border 
of the city. From this point the rocks run eastward in 
parallel rows—narrow sandy flats intervening between some of 
the ridges, which, with one exception, are all covered at high 
water. Lines of rocks having a similar arrangement fringe 
the Castle and Pier to the East Sands; then a coarse sandy 
and gravelly beach extends in a southerly direction about half 
a mile, after which the jagged rocky border passes round the 
eastern coast to the Frith of Forth. 
The greater part of the sandy bay has a depth of less than 10 
fathoms ; for at this point the 20-fathom line bends outwards 
to the Bell rock. The whole region is thus comparatively 
shallow, and in contrast with that to the north of Arbroath 
Hoad, or with the Frith of Forth and the neighbouring coast 
on the south. 
If the fine stretch of sand from the river Eden to the city 
(usually termed the West Sands in contradistinction to the East 
Sands which extend from the harbour southward) is only en¬ 
livened in summer by thousands of bleached heart urchins, 
broken shells, skeletons of plaice, frogfish, and haddock, or 
B 
