Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/717

BEACH-FLEA. upon soa-beaches, and hops away with flfa-like ai'ility when disturbetl. In summer they collect in vast nunil)ers under windrows of sea-weeds, etc., where they serve as scavengers by devouring decaying animal matter. They form an impor- tant part of the food of shore-birds. tigei--beetles, etc. Those of the eastern United States belong commonly to the family Orchestridie. See Am- PIIIPODA. BEACH-GRASS. See Ammophila.  BEACH-PEA. See L.TiiyRrs.  BEACH PLANTS, also called Strand, Shore, or LiTToKAL Plants. Plants that grow above the water-line along the shores of oceans or great lakes. They form one of theedaphie groups of xerophytes (q.v. ). The beach, as the term is here used, is composed of sand or gravel, and is essentially a product of wave-action; it comprises the zone which is, or has been, worked over by the waves. It is conuuonly de- limited on the one side by the water-line, and on the otlicr by dimes or sea-clifl's. The lower por- tion of the beach is washed by the waves of sum- mer storms, and is devoid of life. Water-plants cannot grow there because of excessive exposure, while land-plants are excluded because of fre- quent wave-action. Beyond this zone is another, which is washed by the high waves of winter storms; here annual jjlants are found, but not permanent jJerennials, since the winter waves de- stroy them. Beyond the reach of any but excep- tional waves is the upper beach, and here the conditions for life are nuich improved; not only annuals, but also biennials and perennials, be- come more or less abundant.

The most characteristic type of beach plant is the succulent annual, of which the Sea Rocket (Cakile) may be considered a good example, since it is a common beach plant along the ocean shores of America and Europe, and also along the shores of the Great Lakes. The development of succulent annuals on the beach is a fact of great interest, since this type of vegetation is pe- culiarly characteristic of deserts. This suggests that the beach is a highly xeroph^'tic habitat; and such is indeed the case, for there is no habitat in ordinary climates where the exposure to wind, light, heat, and cold, is greater than here. High- er up on the beach there are often found biennial rosette plants, and perennials with long, under- ground stems, as in the Beach Pea {Latln/rus muritiiHiis) and in the Sand Reed {Aiinnophila). The vegetation of beaches is almost always sparse. But few species can endure the severe conditions, and even in the case of these few spe- cies, the individuals are commonly scattered. As a conse([uence, the sandy or gravelly soil gives the dominant tone to the landscape, as is the case in deserts. A comparison of the ocean beach with the beach of the Great Lakes brings out the fact that the floras are almost identical. It might he supposed that the influence of salt (see Halopiiytes) would be indicated by a different assemblage of plants along the seashore, but scarcely any inland and coastal plant societies arc so nuich alike as those of lake and ocean beaches. This fact show's that the xerophytic character of the beach conditions determines the nature of its flora. See Ecology. BEACH-PLUM. See Plvm, Beach.  BEACH'Y HEAD (corrupted from Fr. bel- chcf, bcau-chrf, beautiful head or headland) . Tlie loftiest headland on the southern coast of Eng- land, projecting into the English Channel, 2i/i miles south-southwest of Eastbourne, Sussex (ilap: England. GO). It consists of perpen- dicular chalk clilfs, .564 feet high, forming the east end of the South Downs. Near this point occurred a famous na'al battle, in which the Krcncli fleet under Tourville defeated the com- bined English and Dutch under Torrington ( 1090) . The Belle Toute or Beachy Head Light- house, 2 miles to the west, was built in 1831. This lighthouse is 285 feet above the sea, in lati- tude .30° 44' 24" N., longitude 0° 12' 42" E. BEA'CON (ME. heken, .S. bedcen, hccen, Ger. Bake; cf. AS. beacnian, Engl, beck, beckon, to make a sign). Any signal set upon a height, but especially the alarm-fires at one time used to spread the intelligence of foreign invasion or other great event. These fire-signals were in use in the earliest times. An instance is found in the book of the prophet .leremiah, in his call, in chapter vi. 1, to the people of Benjamin to "set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem: for evil ap- peareth out of the north, and great destruction." Notices of beacons are fotmd in the literary re- mains of ancient Persia, Palestine, and Greece. Another occurs in the tragedy of Agamemnon, by the Greek poet .Eschylus. The commander-in- chief of the Greek .rmy at the siege of Troy is represented as communicating the intelligence of the fall of the city to his qvicen, Clytemnestra. at ilycenoe, in the Peloponnesus. The line consists of eight nuountains, and the news is supposed to be conveyed in one night from Troy.

In England the beacons were kept up by a rate levied on the counties, and had watches regularly stationed at them. They were carefully organ- ized while the Spanish Armada was expected. (See Macaulay's Armada for a vivid description of this.) In the United States, as early as 10.35, there was a knoll at Boston known as Beacon Hill (leveled in 1811), from which an alarm was sent out by signal-lires in case of attack by In- dians. During the Revolution a line of signals was established reaching across New England toward New Jersey and Pennsylvania, crossing New York at the Hudson Highlands. Two of these, above Fishkill, are now known as South Beacon and North Beacon. The latter was re- lighted at a celebration in 1883, and in 1899 the site was marked l)y a monument erected by the Daughters of the Revolution. In maritime affairs a beacon is a guide or warning signal. In former times signal-fires, either placed in a cresset on top of a pole, or in a tower on an eminence, were used to signal the approach of an enemy or to spread a call or warning for any purpose, a chain of them often conveying intelligence to great distances. Vari- ous liills have received the name of beacon from the fact that signal-fires have at one time been lighted on them. At present lighthouses, or other objects, placed conspicuously on a coast, or over a rock or shoal, to give notice of danger, as well as signals erected for facilitating the tri- angulation of the coast, are known as beacons. Two principal characters are used for distin- guishing beacons — color and shape : and the opin- ion given by the International ilarine Confer- ence, held in Washington in 1889, was that the first object to be attained from an international standpoint was uniformity. For that purpose