Since the year 1871 I have been much impressed with the interest and importance of one of the byways of science, the problem of the Geological Physios of the Shallow Seas. Recent discoveries in raised beaches have brought this subject again to the front, and the object of the present paper is to plead for further inquiry by specialists.

I may briefly mention my own now antiquated papers, viz., “Notes on Torbay” (Trans. Dev. Assoc., 1878); “The Formation of Ripple-mark” (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1882); “The Action of Waves on Sea Beaches and Sea Bottoms” (Roy. Dublin Soc., 1885); and “On the Influence of Wave-currents on the Fauna inhabiting Shallow Seas” (Journ. Linn. Soc., 1884). With the exception of the Dublin paper, the MSS. were, as a matter of fact, perused by eminent mathematicians, who kindly guarded me against any conflict between observation and theory.