The Origin and Growth of Ripple-Mark

To any one who, for the first time, sees a great stretch of sandy shore covered with innumerable ridges and furrows, as if combed with a giant comb, a dozen questions must immediately present themselves. How do these ripples form ? Are they made and wiped out with every tide, or do they take a long time to grow, and last for many tides ? What is the relation between the ripples and the waves to which they owe their existence? And a host of others too numerous to mention. The questions to which I particularly directed my attention at first were the following:—(1) How do the ripples first start ? (2) What is the relation between the water waves and the ripples ?