I

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HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

LIBRARY

OF THE

MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY.
GIFT OF

ALEXANDER AGASSIZ.

^vkjuu^^,^ ^\A%Y

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GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM, MADRAS.

ox THE

PEARL AND CHAM FISHERIES

AND

MARINE FAUNA OF THE GULF OF MANAAIL

BY

EDGAR JHURSTON, c.m.z.s., &c.

SUPERINTENDENT, GOVKBNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM.

MADRAS :

Feinted by the supeeintendent, goyt. peess.

[Price, Re. 1-4-0. ] ""^890.

GOVERNMENT CENTRAL MUSEUM, MADRAS.

KOTES

ON THE

PEARL AND CHAM FISHERIES

AND

MAEINE FAUNA OF THE GULF OF MANAAE.

BY

EDGAR ^HTJRSTON, c.m.z.s., &c.,

SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT CENTBAI, MUSEUM.

c .
MADRAS:

PRINTED BY THE SUPEEINTENDENT, GOVT. PRESS.

[Price, Re. 1-4-0. ] J^ 1 8 9 .

wmmmmmim

""^'"-*' '

< I.— TUTICOEIN PEAEL FISHEEY.
^ IT.— PEAELS OF MYTILUS AND PLACUNA.
•III.— TUTICOEIN CHANK FISHEEY.
^ IY._CEYLON PEAEL FISHEEY.

* v.— EAMlfeSYAEAM ISLAND.

* YI.-MAEINE FAUNA OF THE GULF OF

MANAAE.

'YII.— INSPECTION OF CEYLON PEAEL BANKS.

" Know you, perchance, how that poor formless wretch—
The Oyster — gems his shallow moonlit chalice ?

Where the shell irks him, or the sea-sand frets,
This lovely lustre on his grief."

Edwin Arnold.

I.-THE TUTICOEIN PEAEL FISHEEY.

TuTicoRiN, the " scattered town," situated on the south-
west coast of the Gulf of Manaar, from which the Madras
Government pearl fishery is conducted, is, according to Sir
Edwin Arnold,^ " a sandy maritime little place, which fishes
a few pearls, produces and sells the great pink conch shells,
exports rice and baskets, and is surrounded on the landside
by a wilderness of cocoa and palmyra palms."

Summed up in these few words, Tuticorin does not
appear the important place which, in spite of its lowly
appearance when viewed from the sea and the apparent
torpor which reveals itself to the casual visitor, it is in
reality, not only as a medium of communication between
Tinnevelly and Ceylon, to and from which hosts of coolies
are transported in the course of every year, but as being an
important mercantile centre for* the shipment of Tinnevelly
cotton, jaggery, onions, chillies, &c.

With respect to the shipment of jaggery, I was told,
during a recent visit to Tuticorin, that, during the seasons
at which jelly-fish abound in the muddy surface water of the
Tuticorin harbour, so great is the dread of their sting, that
coolies, engaged in carrying loads of palmyra jaggery on
their heads through the shallow water to the cargo boats,
have been known to refuse to enter the water until a track,
free from jftlly-fish, was cleared for them by two canoes
dragging a net between them.

Tuticorin is, indeed, *' an abominable place to land at,"
and it is unfortunate that it is ordained by nature that large
vessels shall not approach nearer to the shore than a distance
of six miles or thereabouts, being compelled, with due regard
for their safety, to lie at anchor outside Hare Island, one of

^ India Re-visited, 1887.

a number of coral-girt islands in the neighbourhood, where
hares and partridges may be shot, and sluggish Holiithurians
captured in abundance at low tide as they lie impassive on
the sandy shore, which is strewed with broken coral frag-
ments, detached by wave-action from the neighbouring
reef, and riddled with the burrows of nimble Ocypods {0.
macrocera and 0. ceratojihthalma.) The habits of the latter
species of crustacean are well described by Sir J. Emerson
Tennent, who writes ^ : —

'• The ocypode burrows in the dry soil, making deep excava-
tions, bringing up literally armf uls of sand, which, with a spring
in the air, and employing its other limbs, it jerks far from its
burrows, distributing it in a circle to the distance of several feet.
So inconvenient are the operations of these industrious pests
that men are kept constantly employed at Colombo in filling up
the holes formed by them on the surface of the Q-alle face. This,
the only equestrian promenade of the capital, is so infested by
these active little creatures that accidents often occur through
horses stumbhng in their troublesome excavations."

Not far from the north end of the town of Tuticorin,
on the sandy shore, are the kilns, in which corals, coarse
mollusc shells [Ostrcea, Venus, Cardhim, &c.), and melobesian
nodules (calcareous algse) are burned and converted into
chundm,^ i.e., prepared lime used for building purposes, and
by natives for chewing with betel. A native informs me
that in the Bombay and Bengal Presidencies and in the
North- Western Provinces pearls are bought by wealthy
natives to be used instead of chundm with the betel. In
India relations and friends put some rice into the mouth of
the dead before cremation, but in China seed pearls are used
for the same purpose.

During my visit to Tuticorin in 1887, I used to watch,
almost daily, grand, massive blocks of Pontes, Astrcea and
various species of other stony coral genera, being brought in
canoes from the reefs and thrown into the ground to form
the foundation of the new cotton mills, which, in consequence,
bear the name of the Coral Mills.

Lecturing at the Eoyal Institution ^ on the " Structure,
Origin, and Distribution of Coral Reefs and Islands,"

1 Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon, 1861.

^ The familiar house frog {Rhacophorns maciilatiis) of Madras is popularly
known as the " chun&m frog " from its habit of sticking on to the chun&ia
walls of dwelling houses.

3 Friday, March 16, 1888.

Mr. John Murray stated that " if we except Bermuda and
one or two other outlying reefs where the temperature may
occasionally fall to 66'^ Fahr. or 64° Fahr., it may be said that
reefs are never found where the surface temperature of the
water, at any time of the year, sinks below 70° Fahr., and
where the annual range is greater than 12° Fahr. In typical
coral reef regions, however, the temperature is higher and
the range much less." No regular series of records of the
temperature of the water in the coral-bearing Gulf of Manaar
has as yet been made. The surface temperature, which I
recorded from time to time during my visit to Edmesvaram
island in the latter half of July 1888, varied from 79° Fahr. to
91° Fahr. between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The following table shows the temperature range of
Tuticorin during the year 1887, the readings being taken in
the shade at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. : —

January . .
February . ,
March

Range.
9°
. 6°
. 9°

Min.
75°
78°
80°-

Max.
84°
84°
89°

April

May

June . . .

. 12°
. 13°
. 9°

79°
83°
86°

91°
96°
95°

July

August , ,
September . .
October

10°
. 11°
. 9°
. 6°

86°
84°
85°
80°

96°
95°
94°
86°

November . ,

. 7°

79°

86°

December

. 11°

75°

86°

Tuticorin has been celebrated for its pearl fishery from
a remote date, and, as regards comparatively modern times,
Friar Jordanus, a missionary bishop, who visited India about
the year 1 330, tells us that as many as 8,000 boats were then
engaged in the pearl fisheries of Tinnevelly and. Ceylon.^

In more recent times the fishery has been conducted,
successively, by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English.
The following excellent description by Martin of the pearl
fishery in the year 1700, during the Dutch occupation of
Tuticorin, shows that the method of fishing adopted at that
time agrees, in its essential characters, with that which is in
vogue at the present day : —

" In the early part of the year the Dutch sent out ten or
twelve vessels in different directions to test the localities in which

' Streeter, Pearls and Fearling Life, 1886.

8

it appeared desirable that the fishery of the year should be carried
on ; and from each vessel a few divers were let down who brought
up each a few thousand oysters, which were heaped upon the
shore in separate heaps of a thousand each, opened, and exam-
ined. If the pearls found in each heap were found by the
appraisers to be worth an ecu or more, the beds from which the
oysters were taken were held to be capable of yielding a rich
harvest ; if they were worth no more than thirty sous, the beds
were considered .unlikely to yield a profit over and above the
expense of working them. As soon as the testing was com-
pleted it was publicly annoimced either that there would or
that there would not be a fishery that year. In the former case
enormous crowds of people assembled on the coast on the day
appointed for the commencement of the fishery ; traders came
there with wares of all kinds ; the roadstead was crowded
with shipping ; drums were beaten, and muskets fired ; and
everywhere the greatest excitement prevailed until the Dutch
Commissioners arrived from Colombo with great pomp and
ordered the proceedings to be opened with a salute of cannon.
Immediately afterwards the fishing vessels all weighed anchor
and stood out to sea, preceded by two large Dutch sloops,
which in due time drew olf to the right and left and marked
the limits of the fishery, and when each vessel reached its place,
half of its complement of divers plunged into the sea, each
with a heavy stone tied to his feet to make him sink rapidly,
and furnished with a sack into which to put his oysters, and
having a rope tied round his body, the end of which was passed
round a pulley and held by some of the boatmen. Thus
equipped, the diver plunged in, and on reaching the bottom,
filled his sack with oysters until his breath failed, when he
pulled a string with which he was provided, and, the signal
being perceived by the boatmen above, he was forthwith hauled
up by the rope, together with his sack of oysters. No artificial
appliances of any kind were used to enable the men to stay
under water for long periods ; they were accustomed to the
work almost from infancy, and consequently did it easily and
well. Some were more skilful and lasting than others, and it
was usual to pay them in proportion to their powers, a practice
which led to much emulation and occasionally to fatal results.
Anxious to outdo all his fellows, a diver would sometimes
persist in collecting until he was too weak to pull the string,
and would be drawn up at last half or quite drowned, and very
often a greedy man would attack and rob a successful neigh-
bour under water ; and instances were known in which divers
who had been thus treated took down knives, and murdered
their plunderers at the bottom of the sea. As soon as all the
first set of divers had come up, and their takings had been
examined and thrown into the hold, the second set went down.
After an interval, the first set dived again, and after them the
second ; and so on turn by turn. The work was very exhaust-

ing, and the strongest man could not dive oftener tban seven
or eight times in a day, so that the day's diving was finished
always before noon.

" The diving over, the vessels returned to the coast and
discharged their cargoes ; and the oysters were all thrown into
a kind of park, and left for two or three days, at the end of
which they opened and disclosed their treasures. The pearls,
having been extracted from the shells and carefully washed,
were placed in a metal receptacle containing some five or six
colanders of graduated sizes, which were fitted one into another
so as to leave a space between the bottoms of every two, and
were pierced with holes of varying sizes, that which had
the largest holes being the topmost colander, and that which
had the smallest being the undermost. When dropped into
colander No. 1 , all but the very finest pearls fell through into
No. 2, and most of them passed into Nos. 3, 4, and 5 ; whilst
the smallest of all, the seeds, were strained off into the re-
ceptacle at the bottom. When all had staid in their proper
colanders, they were classified and valued accordingly. The
largest or those of the first class were the most valuable, and
it is expressly stated in the letter from which this information
is extracted that the value of any given pearl was appraised
almost exclusively with reference to its size, and was held to be
affected but little by its shape and lustre. The valuation
over, the Dutch generally bought the finest pearls. They
considered that they had a right of pre-emption. At the
same time they did not compel individuals to sell if unwilling.
All the pearls taken on the first day belonged by express reser-
vation to the King or to the Setupati according as the place
of their taking lay off' the coasts of the one or the other. The
Dutch did not, as was often asserted, claim the pearls taken
on the second day. They had other and more certain modes of
making profit, of which the very best was to bring plenty of
cash into a market where cash was not very plentiful, and so
enable themselves to purchase at very easy prices. The amount
of oysters f ou.nd in different years varied infinitely. Some years
the divers had only to pick up as fast as they were able and
as long as they could keep under water ; in others they could
only find a few here and there. In 1700 the testing was most
encouraging, and an unusually large number of boat-owners
took out licenses to fish ; but the season proved most disastrous.
Only a few thousands were taken on the first day by all the
divers together, and a day or two afterwards not a single oyster
could be found. It was supposed by many that strong under-
currents had suddenly set in owing to some unknown cause.
Whatever the cause, the results of the failure were most ruinous.
Several merchants had advanced large sums of money to the
boat-owners on speculation, which were, of course, lost. The
boat-owners had in like manner advanced money to the divers
and others, and they also lost their money."

10

In the present century tlie following fisheries have tak^.n

place : —

1822 profit £13,000

1830 , do. £10,000

1860-62 do. Es. 379,297

1889 do. ,, 158,483

As to the cause of the failure of the pearl oysters to reach
maturity on the banks in large numbers, in recent times,
except after long intervals, I, for my part, confess my igno-
rance. Whether the baneful influence of the mollusca known
locally as suran (Mod/'ola, sp.) and killikay {Aricula, sp.), the
ravages of rays {Trygon, &c.) and file-fishes (Balistes),
poaching, the deepening of the Pdmban Channel, or currents
are responsible for the non-production of an abundant crop
of adult pearl-producing oysters during more than a
quarter of a century, it would be impossible to decide, until
our knowledge of the conditions under which the pearl
oysters live is much more precise than it is at present.

The argument that the failure of the pearl fishery is
due to poaching is, from time to time, brought forward ; but,
as Mr. H. S. Thomas wisely and characteristically remarks '
" the whole system of the fishery has been carefidly
arranged, so that everyone in any way connected with it has
a personal stake in preventing poaching, and oyster poaching
is not a thing that can be done in the night ; it must be
carried out in broad daylight ; andj to be worth doing at all,
it must be done on a large scale. Ten thousand oysters
cannot be put in one's pocket like a rabbit, nor are there
express trains and game-shops to take them. Every single
oyster has to be manipulated, and it is only the few best
that can be felt at once with the fiiiger, and the usual way
is to allow the oyster to rot and wash away from the pearl.
Oysters could not be consigned fresh in boxes or hampers by
rail to distant confederates ; they could not even be landed
without its becoming^ known ; and, if known, every one is
interested in informing the Government officer and stopping-
poaching." I cannot, however, refrain from quoting the
following touching description of an ideal poach in a recent
pamphlet : —

" Mutukuruppan and Kallymuttu are two fishermen
brothers : they start out after their cold rice, ostentatiously to

' Vide Report on Pearl Fisheries and Chank Fisheries, 188 1, bv the Hoa.
Mr. H. S. Thomas.

11

get their lines ready in their canoe, and paddle away to their
fishing ground ; there they drop their stone anchor : presently
one observes that it is warm and he would like a bathe ; over
the side he goes down by his mooring rope to see what the
bottom is like. He brings up a handful of oysters and gives
them to Thamby ; then Thamby thinks he woiild like a bathe,
and he goes down also, and brings up a fist full. When they are
tired they get back into the canoe and open their spoils, taking
out what pearls they can find, and pitching the shells back into
the sea. This sort of thing goes on day after day and year
after year up and down the coast, and this will partially account
for the dead shells so often found on the banks. Is it to be
wondered at that oysters take alarm at this constant invasion of
their domain and naturally seek some other place of rest ? "

Far more prejudicial to the welfare of the oysters than an
occasional raid upon them by a stray Mutukurupam or
Kallymuttu is, in all probability, the Httle mollusc, surauy
which clusters in dense masses over large areas of the sea
bottom, spreading over the surface of coral blocks, smother-
ing and crowding out the recently deposited and delicate
young of the oyster. Time after time there is, in the care-
fully kept records of the Saperintendent of the Pearl Banks,
in one year a note of the presence of young oysters, either
pure or mixed with sdran and mud or weed, while, at the
next time of examination, generally in the following year,
the oysters had disappeared, and the siiran remained. A.
few examples will suffice to make this point clear : —

Devi Far ^ — 6| to 7^ fathoms.

May 1881. Young oysters mixed with sooram^ and mud.
„ 1882. Sooram.

Permandu Par — 6 to 6J fathoms.

May 1880. A few oysters of one year age.
,, 1881. Young oysters mixed with sooram and mud.
,, 1882. Sooram.

Athombadu Par — 7| to 9 fathoms.

May 1880. Covered with sooram.
,, 1881. Large number of oysters of one year age, with

sooram in some places and covered with weeds.
,, 1882. No oysters ; sooram in some places.

The bank, which was fished during the recent fishery, is
situated about 10 miles east of Tuticorin, and known as the

' Far or paar = bank, ^ Sooram =: siiran.

12

Tholayiram Par, the condition of which, as regards oyster
supply, since the year 1860, is shown by the followiDg
extract from the records : —

April 1860. Plenty of oysters 3^ years old.

Nov. 1861. Oysters scarce ; nearly all gone.

April 1863. Sooram and killikay with some young oysters.

Nov. 1865. 'J

April 1866.

„ 1867. J> Blank.
Nov. „ (
April 1869. J
Mar. 1871. Five oysters with a quantity of sooram.

Pive oysters of 3 years age found.

Three oysters found.

Three oysters of 2 years age found.

North part blank.

South part blank.

Thickly stocked with oysters of 1 year age.

Blank.

Some oysters of 1 year mixed with killikay.
No living oysters ; dead shells and sooram.
Three oysters found.
Mar 1884. Plenty of oysters of one year age ; clean and
healthy.

From 1884 the bank was carefully watched, and the
growth of the oysters continued steadily, unchecked by
adverse conditions, as the following figures show : —

Peb.

1872.

May
Jan.

1873.
1875.

Mar.

1876.

April

1877.
1878.

May

1879.
1880.

>>

1881.

7>

1882.

April

1883.

.

'March

1884 weighed 1

October

)>

3f

March

1885

6i

October

»»

7

10 shells lifted. ^

April

1886

7i

November

)>

8i

March

1887

,, lOJ

October

J,

13

November 1888

15i

In November 1888 15,000 oysters were lifted and their
product valued by expert pearl merchants at Es, 206-13-9,
i.e., Rs. 13-12-8 per thousand ^ as shown by the following
copy of the statement of valuation : —

' The product of 12,000 oysters lifted from the Ceylon pearl bank,
the fishing of which took place synchronously with that of the Tuticorin
bank, in November 1888 was valued at Rs. 122. A further sample of
12,650 oysters, lifted in February 1889, was valued at Rs. 142,

13

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14

It may not be out of place to elucidate the meaning of
some of the terms used in the above statement, and I cannot
do better than quote from the excellent article on the Pearl
Fisheries of Ceylon by Mr. Q-. Vane, C.M.Gr., who writes as

follows ^ : —

" Sorting and sizing the pearls into ten diflFerent sizes, from
the largest to the smallest, is done by passing them through ten
brass sieves of 20, 30, 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000

holes each of the ten sizea may include some of every class

of pearls; the 20 to 80 and 100 may each have the dni, anatari,
and kallipii kiads, and this necessitates the operation of classing,
which requires great judgment on the part of the valuers.

"Perfection in pearls consists in shape and lustre, viz.,
sphericity and a silvery brightness, free from any discolouration ;
and, according as the pearls possess these essentials, the valuers
assign their appropriate class, namely, —

" Ani . . . . Perfect in sphericity and lustre.

"Anatari ,, •• Followers or companions, but failing

somewhat in point of sphericity or
lustre.

" Masanku . . . . Imperfect, failing in both points, especi-

ally in brilliancy of colour.

" Kallipii . . . . Failing still more in both points.

" Kural . . . . A double pearl, sometimes ani.

' ' Pi'sal . . . . Misshapen, clustered, more than two to

each other.

" Madauku . . Folded or bent pearls.

" Vadivu . . . , Beauty of several sizes and classes.

" Tul . . . . Small pearls of 800 to 1,000 size.

*' The pearls having been thus sized and classed, each class
is weighed and recorded in kalanchu (kalungy) and maHchadi
(manjaday).

*' The kalanchw is a brass weight equal, it is said, to 67 grains
Troy. The manchddi is a small red berry ^ ; each berry, when
full sized, is of nearly, or exactly the s'ame weight ; they are
reckoned at twenty to the kalanchu.

" The weights being ascertained, the valuation is then fixed to
each pearl class or set of pearls according to the respective sizes
and classes : the inferior qualities solely according to weight in
kalahchu and mauchadi ; the superior dni, anatari, and vadivu are
not valued only by weight, but at so much per chevo of their
weight, this chevo being the native or pearl valuer's mode of

^ Jotirnal, Ceylon Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, 1887, vol. X, No. 34.
Paper read at the Conference Meeting of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition,
October 6, 1886.

^ The seed of Abrm precatorius.

15

assigning the proper value by weight to a valuable article of
small weight, form and colour also considered."

The pearls of commerce are, of course, for the most part
those which are formed within the soft tissues of the animal,
and not the irregular pearly excrescences {oddnmutta) which
are found as outgrowths of the nacreous layer of the shell,
frequently at the point of insertion of the adductor muscle.
The nacreous layer of the Grulf of Manaar pearl oyster shell
is very thin and of hardly any commercial value, the shells,
after the extraction of the pearls by the process of decom-
position, being used mainly in the manufacture of chundm.

As regards the cause of the formation of pearls, concern-
ing which many theories have been hazarded, the most
prevalent idea being that they are a " morbid secretion "
produced as the result of disease, I may quote from the
excellent " Guide to the Shell and Starfish Galleries in the
British Museum (Natural History,)" ^ which tells us that
some small foreign body, which has accidentally penetrated
under the mantle and irritates the animal, is covered with
successive concentric layers of nacre, thus attaining some-
times, but rarely, the size of a small filbert. The nacre is
generally of the well-known pearly- white colour, very rarely
dark, and occasionally almost black.^ The effort of the
animal to get rid of the irritation caused by a foreign sub-
stance between its valves, by covering it over with nacre, and
thus converting it into a pearl, is strikingly illustrated by
two specimens in which, in the one case, an entire fish, and,
in the other, a small crab has been so enclosed. According
to Streeter (o/j. cit.) the nucleus of the pearl may be either
a grain of sand, the frustule of a diatom, a minute parasite,
or one of the ova of the oysters, thin layers of carbonate of
lime being deposited around the object concentrically, like
the successive skins of an onion, until it is encysted.

Writing in 1 859 '^ as to wliat may be termed the worm
theory of pearl formation, Dr. Kelaart stated that " as this
report may fall into the hands of scientific men, I shall
merely mention here that Monsieur Humbert, a Swiss
Zoologist, has, by his own observations at the last pearl

' Printed by order of the Trustees, 1888.

* Among the pearls from the samples lifted at Tuticorin in November
1888 there is one dumb-bell shaped specimen of which one half is white,
the other dark brown.

* Report on the Natural History of the Pearl Oyster of Ceylon, 1858-59.

IC

fishery, corroborated all I have stated about the ovaria or
genital glands and their contents, and that he has discovered,
in addition to the filaria and cercaria, three other parasitical
■worms infesting the viscera and other parts of the pearl
oyster. We both agree that these worms play an important
part in the formation of pearls, and it may yet be found
possible to infect pearls in other beds with these worms, and
thus increase the quantity of these gems. The nucleus of
an American pearl drawn by Mobius is nearly of the same
form as the cercaria found in the pearl oysters of Ceylon.'*
The " cercaria " referred to were, probably, Cestode worms
[Anfhocejihalus, &c.), which are found in the internal organs
of various fishes caught off the coast of Southern India, and
gave rise to a scare in the European fish-loving community
a few years ago. During the recent fishery in only a few
out of many hundreds of oysters which I examined did I
find small nemertine worms living on the mantle or gills of
the oyster, so that their presence cannot be regarded as a
common or essential occurrence.

The Grulf of Manaar pearl oyster {Avicala fucata, Grould)
is represented in plate 1, as it appears after removal of one
valve of its shell, the " ovarium," mantle, gills, adductor
muscle, and byssus being exposed. The presence of a small
pearl imbedded within the substance and projecting from
the surface of the " ovarium " is indicated at A. The byssus
(B), of which the function has given rise to much discussion
and speculation, is made up of a bundle of tough, green-
coloured fibres, secreted by a gland in the foot, and is
capable of being protruded beyond, or retracted within the
shell. By its means the animal is enabled to anchor itself
on the sea-bottom to a neighbouring oyster or other mollusc
shell, coral-block, melobesian nodule, or other convenient
object; and it is said that the animal can, even in the adult
stage, voluntarily shift its position and migrate to a con-
siderable distance. That the young oyster can, during its
phase of existence as a minute, free-swimming organism
wander about and eventually settle down on some congenial
spot no one ^vn^U dispute ; but the evidence that the adult
oyster can, under natural conditions, migrate to any con-
siderable distance is wholly insufficient, even though it has
been demonstrated by experiments that a young pearl oyster
under unnatural conditi(;ms in a soda-water txmibler full of
sea-water can, though v/eighted with two other oysters of
nearly its own size, climb up a smooth perpendicular surface

Plate I

avioul^ fucata
Pearl Oyster

17

at the rate of an inch in two minutes. The mysterious
disappearance of the oysters from the Ceylon pearl bank
prior to a recent fishery must, I think, be attributed to the
action of a strong under-current, and not to voluntary
migration of the headless mollusc.

The recent Tuticorin pearl fishery was carried on from a
temporary improvised village, erected on the barren sandy
shore at Saldpatturai, 2 miles north of the towTi, and built
out of palmyra and bamboo, the inflammability of which
was demonstrated on more than one occasion. The village
consisted of the divers' and merchants' quarters and bazdrs,
where, as the fishing progressed, the product of the oysters
•was exposed for sale ; bungalows for the officials connected
with the fishery ; a tent used by myself as a zoological
laboratory; dispensary; kottus (or koddus), i.e., enclosed
spaces in which the counting, decomposition, and washing of
the oysters are carried on ; a Roman Catholic chapel ; and
the inevitable isolated cholera quarters.

The fishery commenced on the 25th of February under
a combination of adverse conditions which seriously affected
the revenue, viz., the presence of the pearl bank at a
distance of 10 miles from the shore and in 10 fathoms of
water, and the co-existence of a fishery on the Ceylon coast,
where the oysters were to be obtained at a distance of about
5 miles from shore and at a depth of 5 to 7 fathoms. The
natural result was that the natives, keenly alive to their own
interests, went off with their boats from the Madras seaport
towns of Pdmban and Kilakarai to the Ceylon fishery,
where they could earn their money more easily and with
less discomfort than at Tuticorin, leaving the Tuticorin bank
to be fished by a meagre fleet of about 40 boats.

An excellent account of the method of conducting the
pearl ^shery at Tuticorin has been published in the " Hand-
Book of Directions to the Ports in the Presidency of Madras
and Ceylon," 1878, from which the following varies only in
points of detail.

The landwind, under favourable conditions, commences
to blow soon after midnight, and a signal gun is fired by the
beach master as a warning that the fleet of native boats,
each with its complement of native divers, can start out to
sea, their departure being accompanied by a good deal of
noise and excitement. The bank should be reached by day-

18

light, anel the day's work commences on a signal being given
from a schooner, which is moored on the bank throughout
the fishery. An attempt is made to keep the boats together
within an area marked out by buoys, so as to prevent the
bank from being fished over in an irregular manner, and the
temper of the European officer in charge of the schooner is
sorely tried by the refusal of the boatmen to comply with
the conditions. All being ready on board, a diving stone,
weighing about 30 lbs., to which a rope is attached, and a
basket or net fastened in a similar manner are placed over
the ship's side. The ropes are grasped by the diver in his
left hand, and, placing a foot on the stone, he draws a deep
breath, and closes his nostrils with his right hand, or with a
metal nose clip which he wears suspended round his neck by
a string. At a given signal, the ropes are let go, and the
diver soon reaches the bottom, his arrival there being indi-
cated by the slackening of the rope. He then gets off the
diving stone, which is drawn up to the surface, and, after
filling the basket or net with oysters, if he is on a fertile
spot, gives the rope a jerk, and comes up to the surface to
regain his breath.

The contents of the basket or net are emptied into the
boat, and the live oysters separated from the dead shells,
debris, &c. The divers work in pairs, two to each stone,
and the oysters which they bring up are kept separate from
those of the other divers. A good diver will remain below
the surface about 50 seconds, and, exceptionally, 60, 70 or
even 90 seconds.

The largest number of oysters collected as the result of
a single day's fishing by 41 boats during my visit to the
fishery was 241,000, giving an average of 5,878 oysters per
boat, a very small quantity when compared with the results
of the Ceylon fishery in 1857, when the daily yield varied
from one to one and a half million oysters, some* boats
bringing loads of thirty to forty thousand.

From experiments made with divers equipped with diving
helmets, gathering stones instead of oysters, by the late
Superintendent of the Madras Harbour Works, it was calcu-
culated ^ that a pair of helmeted divers could together send

* Vide Madras Board of Revenue Resolution, No. 677, dated 3rd August
1888.

19

up 12,000 shells an hour in shallow water, or, allowing for
delay in hauling up in 12 fathoms of water, say, 9,000 shells
an hour; and as, allowing for shifts,. each diver should work
four hours a day, the quantity sent up by a pair of divers
in a day would be respectively 4 x 12,000 = 48,000, or
4 X 9,000 = 36,000 shells a day, which is equivalent to
the work of 24 or 18 naked native divers sending up 2,000
a day.

The results of the work done by the two helmeted divers ■
who were employed as an experiment at the Tuticorin fishery
fell far short of this calculation, and compared unfavourably
with the work done by the skilled native divers without
helmets.

The diving operations cease for the day some time after
noon, and the boats, if aided by a favourable sea breeze,
reach the shore by 4 p.m., their arrival being awaited by
large crowds of natives, some of whom come fi'orn curiosity,
others to speculate on a small scale. On reaching the shore
the boats are quickly made fast in the sand, and the oysters
carried on the heads of the divers into the kottu, where they
are divided into separate heaps, each set of divers dividing
their day's produce into three equal portions. One of these,
selected by the Superintendent of the Fishery or some other
official, becomes the property of the divers, who quickly
remove their share from the kottu, and, squatting on the
sand, put their oysters up for sale at prices varying fi"om
about 15 to 40 for a rupee. On the first day of the fishery
the oysters, for a short and to the divers lucrative time,
were sold for four annas a piece. The two heaps which are
left by the divers in the kottu become the property of
Government, and are counted by coolies engaged for the
purpose. Usually about 6 p.m. the Government oysters are
sold by public auction, duly announced by tom-tom, being put
up in lots of 1,000 ; and the purchaser can, subject to the
consent of tlie auctioneer, take a certain number of thousands
at the same rate as his winning bid. Occasionally a combi-
nation is organised among the merchants who are buying on
a large scale, and come to the auction determined not to bid
more than a very small fixed sum per 1,000. A struggle
then takes place between the auctioneer and merchants, the
former refusing to sell, the latter refusing to raise their
price ; and the struggle invariably ends in the collapse of the
merchants when they find that their supply of oysters is cut

20

off. No credit is allowed, and the buyers, as soon as they
have paid their money into the treasury, remove their oysters
to the washing kottus, or send them away up-country by
railway.

Buyers of oysters on a very small scale open them at
once with a knife, and extract the pearls by searching about
in the flesh of the animal ; but, by this method, a number of
the very small pearls are missed, and it would be impossible
to carry it out when dealing with oysters in large numbers.
Boiling the oysters in water and subsequent extraction of
the pearls from the dried residue might be, with advantage,
resorted to as a more wholesome and less unsavoury process
than the one which is commonly resorted to of leaving the
oysters to putrify in the sun, a,nd subsequently extracting
the pearls from the residue after it has been submitted to
repeated washings to free it from the prevailing maggots,
pulpy animal matter, sand, &c. The process of putrefaction
is greatly aided by flies — big red-eyed blue-bottles. At the
Ceylon pearl fishery, which I was sent to inspect on the
termination of my work at Tuticorin, the merchants com-
plained at first of the scarcity of flies ; but, later on, there was
no cause for complaint, for they were present not only in the
kottus, but in other parts of the camp, in such enormous
numbers as to form a veritable plague, covering our clothes
with a thick black mass, and rendering the taking of food
and drink a difficult and unpleasant process until the even-
ing, when they went to rest after twelve hours of unceasing
activity.

For months after the conclusion of a pearl fishery poor
natives may be seen hunting in the sand on the site of the
pearl camp for pearls, and it is reported that in 1797 a
common fellow, of the lowest class, thus got by accident the
most valuable pearl seen that season, and sold it for a large
sum.

Towards the latter end of 1888 it was suggested that an
electric light apparatus should be acquired in connection
with the pearl fishery, by means of which one would be able
to examine the condition of the bank from the deck of a
ship, and which, it was thought, would help to solve the
enigmas that still hang about the migrations of the pearl
oyster. The notice of Government was drawn to the fact

21

that a boat had been fitted up with a brush-dynamo and
electric globe for the pearl fishery in South Australia by a
Glasgow firm. Dm^ing a recent visit to Europe, I made a
series of inquiries as to the possibility of obtaining a light,
such as was required ; but, though there was abundant
evidence as to the use of the electric light for surface work,
salvage operations, and scientific dredging,^ the general
opinion of those best qualified to judge was that it would,
for the proposed purpose, be a failure. It has been sug-
gested by Mr. Gr. W. Phipps, who was for many years
Superintendent of the Tuticorin pearl banks, that, if a sheet
of thick glass could be let into the lower plates of a vessel
and there protected both outside and inside in some way
from accident, a study of the sea-bottom in clear water,
either by day with the sun's rays or by night by the use of
a powerful electric light, might be made. In a letter to
Grovernment Mr. C. E. Fryer, Inspector of Fisheries, makes
the sound suggestion " that the observations which the Grov-
ernment of Madras desire to make upon the habits of the
pearl oysters would be greatly facilitated by the employment
of a diver equipped with an ordinary diving dress. By this
means a prolonged stay could be made by an observer on
the sea-bottom, who could not only make an accurate survey
of the bed, but could periodically examine the same ground,
select specimens, and make minute observations, which would
be impossible to a native diver, whose stay at the bottom is
limited to a minute or so." To these remarks I may add
my own experience at the Tuticorin fishery, where, by
examination of the shells of the oysters brought up by the
divers, by expending small sums of money which tempted
the native divers to bring me such marine animals as they
met with at the sea-bottom, by conversation with the
European diver, who was, further, able to bring up large
coral blocks (Porites, Madrepora, Hydnophora, Pocillojwraf
Titrbinaria, &c.) for examination, and by dredging, I was
able to form some idea as to the conditions under which the
pearl oysters were living. On clear days it was possible to
distinguish the sandy from the rocky patches by the effect
of light and shade, and from hauls of the dredge over the
former not only many moUusca, &o., but also specimens

^ Vide Herdman's 2iid Annual Report on the Puffin Island Biological
Station.

22

of Branchiosfoma, sp.^ (Lancelet) were obtained, of which
the largest measured two inches in length. MoUusea were
also obtained in great variety by passing the debris, which
was swept from the floor of the kottoo every day after the
oysters had been cleared away, through sieves. The big
Murex anguliferus (Elephant Chank) was brought in from
the banks by the divers nearly every day, and the animal
served up for their hard-earned evening meal. The oysters
shells were largely encrusted with bright- coloured sponges,
of which the most conspicuous was Clathria indica (n. sp.)
an erect-growing bright red species, recorded by Mr. Dendy
in his report on my second collection of sponges from the
Gulf of Manaar.^ Very abundant, too, was the large cup-
shaped Pefrosia testudinaria, of which a specimen in the
Madras Museum measures 1*5 feet in height. Enveloping
the oyster shells were tangled masses of marine Alcjce,^ and
floating in dense masses on the surface was the Sargasso
weed, Sargassum vulgare. The various minute living organ-
isms entangled in the meshes of the Algse must serve as an
efficient food-supply for the oysters. The outer surface of
the living oyster shells was frequently covered with delicate
Poli/zoa, which also flourished on the internal surface of the
dead shells in the form of flat or arborescent colonies. In no
single instance did I see an oyster shell from the Tuticorin
bank encrusted with coral ; whereas at the Ceylon fishery,
on the sole occasion on which I had an opportunity of
examining the oysters brought in from the pearl bank, I
found the surface of a large number of the shells, both dead
and living, covered, and frequently entirely hidden from
view by delicate brandling Madrepora or Pocillopora, or the
more massive Astrcea, Cceloria, Hydnophora, Galaxea, &c. A
specimen of Galaxea encrusting a single valve of an oyster
shell, which I picked up on the shore and is now in the
Madras Museum, weighed as much as 5 oz. 15 dwts.

Several species of Echinoderm, which have not hitherto
been recorded from the coast of the Madras Presidency,*

* Specimens of Amphioxus belchcH, Gray, were obtained by Mr. Giles,
when dredging from the Marine Survey SS. " Investigator" off Seven Pagodas
(Mahibalipuram) 30 miles south of Madras during the season 1887-88.

2 Ann. 3faff., Nat. Hist., Feb. 1889.

' The collection of Algfe made at Tuticorin has been sent to the British
Museum (Nat. History) for identification.

* Vide Proc, Zool. Soc, Land., June 19, 1888.

23

were brought up by the divers, and have been sent to my
friend Professor Jeffrey Bell for identification. Of recorded
species those which were brought on shore most frequently
were the crimson-lake coloured Oreader Uncki, and the long-
armed, usually salmon-coloured Lhickia Icevigata^ and, not
unfrequently, dense clusters of Ardedon palmata were found
in crevices hollowed out in coral blocks, from which also,
when broken open, specimens of Ophiuroich (commonly met
with their arms turned round the branches of a GorgoniOy
or in the canal system of sponges), Annelids, Crustaceans^
and stone-boring Mollusca [Lit/iodomus, Paropholas^ Vene-
rupis, &c.) were obtained.

II.-NOTE ON PEARLS FROM
MYTILTJS AND PLAOITNA.

II.-NOTE ON PEARLS FROM
MYTILUS AND PLACUNA.

In addition to the pearl oyster of the Gulf of Mannar, two
other pearl-producing moUusca {Mytilus smaragdinus and
Placuna placenta) are to be found in the Madras Presidency :
the former in the Sonnapore river in the Granjam district,
•where they are, or were till recently, the source of a local
industry ; the latter on salt mud flats and in canals in
various parts of the presidency, e.g.^ Pulicat Lake, the
Buckingham Canal, Tuticorin, &c.

As regards the former {M. smaragdinus), samples of the
pearls were sent to Grovernment by Mr, R. Davison, when
Acting Collector of G-anjam in 1875, and examined by pearl
merchants, who reported that they were of very inferior
quality and of the description termed " rejected pearls " by
the trade, and valued a big discoloured pearl at Es. 1-8-0
and the whole sample at Rs. 7. The following extract is
taken from a letter to Government by Mr. Davison, who, as
the result of a visit to the mussel beds, which was resented
by the natives who were interested in keeping the habitat
of the mussels secret, suggested that, if taken in hand and
properly treated, the pearls might eventually become a fruit-
ful source of revenue : —

"Sonnapore is a small fishing village situated near the
mouth of a river to which it gives its name, and which is about
12 miles south of Gopaulpore. For some miles up the river
there are large beds of the ordinary edible oysters, which fijid a
ready market at Berhampore and elsewhere. Mixed up with
the ordinary oysters, and adhering most tenaciously to their
beds, are the bright green mussels, from which the pearls are
produced.

•' I had five canoes, with fotu' divers in each, at work, and the
place where we were most successful is situated about two
miles from the mouth of the river and about half a mile beyond
the custom house. Each diver brought with him a long bam-
boo pole, which he drove with all his might into the oyster
bed at a depth of from ten to twelve feet of water according to
the state of the tide. He then dived to the bottom, and holding

28

on to, or keeping near tlie bamboo, broke off as large a mass of
oysters as he could conveniently bring to the surface in one
liand, and with the other he helped himself up the bamboo.
Any mussels that were found adhering to the block of oysters
were secured, and the oysters were returned to the water, as
thousands of them have already, from time to time, been ex-
amined in vain. I was amazed at the dexterity and rapidity
with which the divers opened the mussels with knives made for
the piu'pose ; and the expert manner in which they ran their
thumbs over the molluscs, detecting in an instant without fail
the most minute seed pearl not larger than a pin's head, leaves
no room for doubting that long practice has made them perfect
in this particular branch of what has hitherto been to them a
highly lucrative employment."

The flat, transparent shells of F lacuna placenta (window
shell) are used in China and at the Indo-Portnguese Settle-
ment G-oa as a substitute for window glass ; and the small
pearls which the animal produces are exported to India to
be calcined into chunam, which rich natives chew with their
well-beloved betel, and are said to be burned in the mouths
of the dead.^ So far as I am aware the pearls which might
be obtained from the masses of P lacuna which live in the
mud flats of Southern India have not been utilised as an
article of commerce. But an extensive Placuna pearl fishery
has been carried on at Tamblegam lake in Ceylon ; and some
idea of the abundance of the mollusc may be gathered from
the fact that the quantity of shells taken in the three years
prior to 1858 could not have been less than eighteen millions.

1 Vtde Tennent's Ceylon, II, 492.

III.-THE TUTIGORIN CHANK
FISHERY.

Plate II

TURBINELLA V.kPL

The Chank

III.-THE TUTICORIN CHANK
FISHERY.

The sacred chank or sankh is the shell of the gastropod
mollusc T'urhinella rajm, of which a full-grown specimen is
represented on plate II, and is, like the pearl oyster and the
edible trepang {Holothuria marmorata) a commercial product
of the Gulf of Manaar.

The chank which one sees suspended on the forehead
and round the necks of bullocks in Madras is not only used
by Hindus for offering libations and as a musical instru-
ment in temples, but is also cut into armlets, bracelets, and
other ornaments, and writing in the sixteenth century
Garcia says ^ : —

" And this chanco is a ware for the Bengal trade, and formerly

produced more profit than now and there was formerly

a custom in Bengal that no virgin in honour and esteem could
be corrupted unless it were by placing bracelets of chanco on
her arms ; but since the Patans came in, this usage has more or
less ceased, and so the chanco is rated lower now."

The chank appears as a symbol on some of the coins of
the Chalukyan and Pdndyan empires, and on the modern
coins of the Ed] as of Travancore.

The chank fishery is conducted from Tuticorin, and the
shells are found in the vicinity of the pearl banks, in about
7 to 10 fathoms,^ either buried in the sand, lying on the sea
bottom, or in sandy crevices between blocks of coral rock.
The fishery goes on during the north-east monsoon from
October to May, and is worked by native divers, who, put-
ting their foot on a stone to which a long rope is attached,
are let down to the bottom, carrying a net round the waist,
in which they place the chanks as they collect them. The
shells of the chank are scattered about, and not aggregated
together in clusters like those of the pearl oyster, so that the

' Vide Yule and Burnell Eohson Johson, 1886.

* For a discussion of the chank as an enemy of the pearl oyster, vide
Mr. H. S. Thomas' Report on Fearl Fisheries and Chank Fisheries] 1884.

32

divers have to move about on the bottom from place to place
in search of them. The divers usually stay beneath the
surface from 40 to 50 seconds. The longest dive which I
have myself witnessed was 54 seconds, and on that occasion
the diver, on his return to the surface, innocently inquired
how many minutes he had been under water. A single case
is on record of a native diver being drowned from over-
loading his net, so that he was unable to rise to the surface.
I can find no record of the death, in recent years, of a diver
at the hands of a shark ; but dread of sharks still clings to
the divers, and I read in the Times of Ceylon during the
recent pearl fishery that " at present there are said to be 150
boats with their full complement of men, all waiting at
Kilakarai in readiness to proceed to Dutch Bay, but they
will not leave until after some festivities which occur on the
15th instant, when it is customary for them to pray for
protection from sharks, &c., while engaged in diving."

Further Tennent writes ^ : —

' ' The only precaution to which the Ceylon diver devotedly
resorts is the mystic ceremony of the shark-charmer, whose
exorcism is an indispensable preliminary to every fishery. This
power is beHeved to be hereditary ; nor is it supposed that the
value of his incantations is at all dependent upon the religious
faith professed by the operator, for the present head of the
family happens to be a Eoman Catholic. At the time of our
visit this mysterious functionary was ill and unable to attend ;
but he sent an accredited substitute, who assured me that,
although he was himself ignorant of the grand and mystic secret,
the fact of his presence as a representative of the higher
authority would be recognised and respected by the sharks."

The number of chanks collected in a day varies very
much according to the number of divers employed and other
conditions ; and the records show that as many as 6,000
or as few as 400 may be collected. The divers, who are
furnished with canoes, ropes, and other apparatus, are paid at
the rate of Rs. 20 per 1,000 shells.* At the close of the day's
fishery the chanks are brought on shore, and examined.
Those which are defective, either from cracks or irregularities
of the surface from their having been gnawed by fishes or
bored by marine worms, are rejected.

The remainder are tested with a wooden gauge having a
hole 2 1 inches in diameter. Those shells which pass through

' Sir J. Emerson Tennerxt's Ceylm, 1860, vol. II, pp. 564-5.

33

this hole are discarded as being too small, and returned to
the sea on the chance that the animal may revive and con-
tinue to grow ; those which are too large to pass through the
hole are stored in a " godown/' where the animal substance
is got rid of by the process of putrifaction, assisted by flies
and other insects. In the month of July the shells are sold
by auction in one lot to the highest bidder. In 1886 the
highest offer was Es. 96 per 1,000 by a native of Kilakarai,
which was accepted.

The following statement shows the number of chank
shells fished, and the net amount realised from 1876-77 to
1885-86 :—

Years.

1876-77

1877-78
1878-79
1879-80
1880-81
1881-82
1882-83
1883-84
1884-85
1885-86

Total

Chanks

Net amount

fished.

realised.

R8. A.

p.

282,737

12,066 4

6

360,131

22,904 4

7

388,064

22,250 4

7

125,540

6,714 13

2

105,277

9,645 8

3

303,590

28,450 8

6

247,696

22,038 13

7

210,005

11,347 1

6

332,757

23,970

11

1,59,387 11

6

It would seem from Simmond's " Commercial Products
of the Sea " that the chank fishery was, in days gone by,
more lucrative than it is at present ; for it is there stated
that " frequently 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 of these sheUs are
shipped in a year from the Gulf of Manaar. In some years
the value of the rough shells, as imported into Madras and
Calcutta, reaches a value of £10,000 or £15,000. The
chank fishery at Ceylon at one time employed 600 divers,,
and yielded a revenue to the Island Government of £4,000
per annum for licenses."

A right-handed chank {i.e., one which has its spiral
opening to the right), which was found off the coast of
Ceylon at Jaffna in 1887, was sold for Bs. 700. Such a
chank is said to have been sometimes priced at a lakh of
rupees; and, writing in 1813, Milburn says^ that a chank

^ Oriental Commerce, vol. I, p, 357.

34

opening to tlie right hand is highly valued, and always sells
for its weight in gold. Further, Baldseus, writing towards
the end of the seventeenth century, narrates the legend that
" Garroude flew in all haste to Brahma and brought to
Kistna the chianko or kinkhorn twisted to the right."

The curious eg^ capsules of the chank, of which many
specimens were brought up for me by the Tuticorin divers,
have been well described by my predecessor, Dr. G. Bidie,
CLE., who says of them^ : —

" The spawn of the Turbinella consists of a series of sacs or
oviferous receptacles (pi. iii, fig. 1), the transverse markings in
the figure indicating the dimensions of each capsule. In the
fresh state the membranous walls of the sacs are pliable,
although tough and horny ; and it will be observed that, dm-ing
the drying process, the spawn has, from the irregular shrinking
of the two sides, become curved and twisted so as to have some-
what the appearance of a horn In fig. 2 a side view

is given of a separated capsule, and fig. 3 gives magnified
sketches of the young shells. The larger oviferous sacs of the
Turbinella spawn contain from 8 to 10 young shells each, but the
smaller ones, towards the end of the specimen, are barren. In
fig. 1 there are 30 fertile sacs, and, say that each of these on
an average contains 6 germs, we thus have altogether 180
young shells in the whole of the ceUs."

The largest number of young shells which I found in a
single specimen was 235, of which the average diameter was
•62 inch.

Madras Journal of Literature and Science, vol. XXIV, 1879, pp. 232-234.

Plate III

Egg Capsule op Citank

IV -NOTE ON THE CEYLON PEARL
FISHERY, 1889.

IV.-NOTE ON THE CEYLON PEAEL
FISHERY, 1889.

On the completion of ray investigation of the Tuticorin
pearl fishery, in accordance with instructions received from
Government, I proceeded to Ceylon to report on the pearl
fishery which was being carried out at Dutch Bay.

It was originally intended that I should travel up the
coast by S.S. Active ; but, as she was laden with stores for the
pearl camp, there was no available space, and I had, unfor-
tunately, to wait for a passage on the small coasting steamer
Prince Alfred, which left Colombo two days later. As we
neared Dutch Bay in the early morning, the well known
odour of decomposing oysters was perceptible some distance
out at sea, and we watched nine boats at work on the pearl
bank. A single haul of the dredge in the shallow water of
the bay brought up a number of small mollusca, worms, and
a gephyrean, which I had not seen before. Arrived at the
camp I found Mr. Twynham, C.M.G., Captain Donnan,
(whose name is connected with a Gulf of Manaar sponge
Axinella dcnnani), and other administrative officers living on
board S.S. Serendih which was moored close to the shore,
communication with which was maintained by means of a
gangway. Several deaths from cholera occurred on board
during the return journey of the Serendih to Colombo, and,
among others Captain Eobson, who had acted as Kottu
Superintendent throughout the fishery, fell a victim to the
dread disease.

The nine boats which had been at work on the bank were
towed into the bay by the Active, reaching the shore opposite
the kottus before 4 p m. I gathered that the steamer had
been of very great service during the fishery ; for, with her
assistance, not only were the boats enabled to get to and
from the bank in spite of contrary winds, but the work of the
divers, which is very severe, was considerably lightened by
the simple fact that the steamer could bring them back at an
early hour on days when, without her assistance, they would
have been out at sea until late in the evening and not ready
to start off for the bank on the following morning.

38

Fortunately I examined the oysters which were brought
in by the boats ; for, as events turned out, it was my only
opportunity of making an examination. I was at once struck
with the fact that the shells of the oysters presented an
entirely different appearance to those of the Tholayiram Par
(Tuticorin). For, whereas the latter were enveloped in dense
masses of algse (sea weeds) and the surface of the shells was
covered by variously coloured branching and sessile encrusting
sponges, the surface of the shells of the former which was
uppermost during life was, in very many cases, covered over
by stony corals, which formed either encrusting masses or
branching tufts. Specimens of the shells, with their accom-
panying corals, many of which were to be seen lying strewn
along the sandy shores of the bay, discarded by natives after
extraction of their contents, have been deposited in the
Madras Museum. Further examination of these coral-bear-
ing shells would be of interest ; for, as the age of the oysters
can be approximately fixed, a very good idea could be
obtained, by weighing and by observation of the size of the
corals on oysters of different ages, as to the rate at which the
corals grow.^ Chemical analyses of the sea water over the
Ceylon and Tuticorin pearl banks, especially with reference
to the percentage of lime salts, should also be carried out.

As regards my observation that the Tuticorin shells were
covered with algse while the Ceylon shells were encrusted
by corals a Ceylon correspondent writes as follows : —

" From the fishery of 1887 we took away specimens, very
beautiful to look at, but several of which showed that the un-
fortunate animals inhabiting the shells had their residences
converted into their tombs by the fatal industry of the coral
animals. But our specimens were not obtained from the Moda-
ragam Par, which was that we saw fished, and the shells taken
from which are always covered with red colored algee, and never
with corals. We gathered our coral-covered specimens from the
mounds of dried shells on the sea-shore, and learned that they
had been taken in a previous fishery from another bank."

The mid-day heat at Dutch Bay was very intense, the
sand getting so hot that even coolies could "not walk on it,
and the blue-bottle flies were an intolerable nuisance from
early morn till sun down. The plague of flies at the Ceylon

. > The rate of growth of corals is fully discussed in Darwin's Structure and
Distribution of Cora! Reefs, 3rd ed., 1889,

39

fisheries has occurred on former occasions, and Mr. G. Vane,
who conducted the fisheries from 1855-60, writes as follows :

" Then come flies, innumerable, of the largest kind ; indeed
flies are constant plagues, but are worse with a southerly wind,
everytliing being covered with a black mass ; a glass of wine or
water must be drunk as poured out, or it is filled with flies, but
southerly winds do not last long, and it seems as though provi-
dentially arranged that the prevailing winds should aid the
purposes and needs of a pearl fishery."

Early in the morning of the day following my arrival
at Dutch Bay my suspicion that something was wrong was
confirmed by the receipt of information that deaths from
cholera had occurred in camp, and that there was a panic
among the divers, who had struck work. It was promptly
decided to abandon the fishery, and permission was given
for the boats to leave. The divers' quarters and sale kottus,
the fences of which had begun to throw out leaves, were, as
a matter of precaution, burned down, and by 4 p.m. most of
the boats were out at sea, many making for the Madras
coast.

The general arrangement of the Dutch Bay camp corre-
sponded, in all essential particulars, with the arrangement of
the Tuticorin camp. The latter is, in fact, based on what
1 may term the Ceylon type.

The camp is described by a newspaper correspondent in
the following words ^ : —

" What was only the other day a sandy desert is now a
popidous and thriving town, with rows of buildings and well-
planned streets. The two principal streets run parallel to each
other. Each is about a mile long and 120 feet wide. These
are again intersected by cross roads at intervals of 200 feet, an
arrangement which permits of free ventilation, &c. Along the
centre of each principal street there is a row of wells and
lamps .... That portion of the town described above is situated
at the south end of Dutch Bay, and is occupied by merchants,
boutique-keepers, divers, et hoc genus omne. To the west of this,
where the buildings are of a superior order and more apart from
each other, we have the custom-house, court-house, police station
with the Union Jack flying gaily in front of it, the Government
Auditor's quarters, the doctor's buildings, the general hospital,
out-door dispensary, rest-house, &c. On the spit of sand (a sand
bank) are built the Government and private kottus and the sale

^ Qeylmi Observer, 2nd March 1889.

40

bungalow. Here, too, are the headquarters of the police ....
By the side of this spit of land, and closely moored to it, are the
Dih, the Antelope, and the Sultan Iskander, which serve as quarters
of the Government Auditor, Captain Donnan, and their subordinate
officers. Far away from this site and at the very end of the
spit can be described some half a dozen yellow flags, which are
said to indicate the situation of the quarantine station and the

hospitals for cholera and small-pox patients Somewhere

about the commencement of the spit stands a dilapidated Roman
Catholic church, sea-eaten and falling into ruins. Father
Dineaux, who is temporarily in charge, tells me that his church
is in imminent danger of total disappearance owing to encroach-
ments from the sea like the proverbial building that was built
on the sands. The cemetery which belonged to this church and
formed part of its grounds has long since been claimed by the
sea, and those who were once buried in terra firma now sleep
beneath the wave."

A small guard steamer was employed in cruising about
the bay during the fishery, so as to prevent the divers, en
their return from the bank, from dropping bags of oysters in
the shallow water, which could afterwards be picked up. This
form of fraud — and the frauds perpetrated by pearl divers
are many — was scarcely possible at Tuticorin, where the
boats arrived on shore opposite the kottu straight from the
open sea.

Grood fresh water was obtained from shallow wells dug in
the sandy shore, and there was an abundance of water, con-
densed by the Serendih, in a large lank ; but the condensed
water did not seem to be appreciated by the natives.

I had, unfortunately, no opportunity of watching the
process of counting the oysters in the kottu, or the manage-
ment of an auction on a large scale ; but, so far as I could
gather from the counting and sale of the oysters brought in
by the nine boats already referred to, the system was the
same as that adopted at Tuticorin.

Turning now to a comparison of the Tuticorin and Dutch
Bay fisheries in the present year, the latter had the advan-
tages of —

i. a large fleet (193) of boats, and a correspondingly

large staff of divers ;
ii. the presence of an eSicient steam-tug throughout the
fishery, by means of which both time and labour
were saved :

4t

lii. the existence of the oysters in comparatively shallow
water and near to land.

The Tuticorin fishery laboured, on the other hand, under
the disadvantages of —

i. a very small fleet (44) of boats, and small staff of

divers,
ii. the absence of a tug for a long time after the com-
mencement of the fishery,
iii. the existence of the oysters in deeper water, and at
a great distance from the shore than at Dutch
Bay.
And there was, if the health of the camp is left out of the
question, no compensatory advantage at Tuticorin,

The following table shows the results of the Dutch Bay
fishery from the date of its commencement up to March the
27th :—

Date.

Number

of
boats.

Total

number of

oj^sters

fished.

Sold for
Govern-
ment.

Average

rate per

1,000.

Revenue.

ES.

RS.

2nd Slarch

89

542,527

361,685

28

10,133-87

4th

,,

170

1,030,342

686,895

22

14,340-80

5th

>>

^ ,

1,183,455

788,970

28-79

22,718-10

6th

»> • •

191

1,343,415

895,610

26-19

23,461-47

7th

)»

188

1,611,616

1,074,410

20-00

21,488-20

8th

n • •

. .

1,357,365

904.910

20-05

18,143-11

9th

»» • •

190

1,432,717

955,145

21-96

20,983-19

11th

)> • •

193

1,623,750

1,082,500

20-17

21,834-00

12th

>»

191

1,688,430

1,125,620

15-01

16,909-30

13th

»> • •

190

1.599,045

1,066,030

15-00

15,990-45

14th

>> • •

190

1^803,240

1,202,160

16-44

19,769-56

15th

»> • •

187

1,926,000

1,284,000

19-04

24,453-00

16th

>>

190

2,209,688

1,473,125

21-63

31,868-75

18th

)) • •

191

1,992,847

1,328,565

19-31

25,656-30

19th

>y ' •

189

2,439,802

1,626,535

15-95

25,956-03

20th

>>

188

1,946,250

1,297,500

15-00

19,462-50

2l8t

»>

190

2,238,998

1,492,665

19-95

29,781-63

22nd

»» • •

189

2,215,725

1,477,150

22-55

33,32015

23rd

>» • •

187

2,372,003

1,581,335

18-36

29,035-70

2oth

>>

187

, ,

1,325,875

15

19,888-13

26th

)> • •

, ,

1,099,070

17

17,730-12

27th

>> • •

••

••

1,052,045

17

18,918-86

The total quantity of the Government share of oysters,
was, therefore, 25,184,015, and the total sum realised aa
the result of 22 days' fishing Rs. 4,81, 887 '52.

42

Comparing these results with those of the Tuticorin
fishery, the following table shows the results obtained at the
latter during the time of the Dutch Bay fishery, viz., from
2nd March to 27th March : —

Num-

Total
number

of
oysters.

Euro-

Bom-

Sold for

Bate

Date.

ber of

pean

bay

Govern-

per

Eevenue.

boats.

diver.

diver.

ment.

1,000.

ES. A. P.

KS. A. p.

2nd March ...

3

6,000

4,000

43

172

4th „

5th „

38

151^500

lo'i^ooo

25 "6 4

2,565"

6th „

38

180,000

120,000

25 13 2

3,099

7th ..

40

180,000

120,000

24 14 3

2,987

8th „

41

187,333

"254

'"so

125,000

26 1 5

3,261

9th „

42

224,654

130

562

150,000

25 6 8

3,813

11th „

44

204, 1*07

692

594

137,000

22 10 3

3,102

12th „

42

235.121

643

115

157,000

21 4

3,.301

13th „

44

235.917

1,405

760

158,000

21 3 2

3,350

Uth „

37

148,280

4.39

99,000

21 8 5

2,131

15th „

35

158,905

190

106,000

20 10 8

2,191

16th „

44

213,809

2,000

2,381

144,000

21 2 6

3,067

18th „

loth „

24

97! 450

"99

6.51000

26 16 1

1,731

20th ,,

12

82,500

55,000

26 13 4

1,476

21st „

43

360,572

966

"890

241,000

22 2 7

5,341

2ind „

44

292,473

1,452

1,602

196,000

21 12 9

4,274

23rd „

35

244,500

163,000

22 5 7

3,643

25th „

26th ..

2

4!565

3',()70

i.'ooo

'4^400

.30 "5

133" 6 5

27th „

44

379,025

950

253,000

24 10 2

6,234

The total quantity of the Government share of oysters,
was, therefore, 2,398,400, and the total sum realised during
the time under notice Rs. 55,871-6-5.

A comparison of these two tables is very instructive and
brings out very clearly the fact that, whereas at Dutch Bay
the fishery was carried on without interruption (no fishery
took place either at Dutch Bay or Tuticorin on Sunday the
8rd, 10th, 17th and 24th), and, after the first few days,
during which time all the boats had not arrived, or were not
ready for work, a large and uniform number of boats were
at work daily and regularly bringing in good loads of
oysters ; at Tuticorin, on the other hand, not only was there
no fishery at all on three days (exclusive of Sundays), but
on different occasions, out of the entire fleet of 44 boats, as
few as 2, 3, and 12 boats were at work, with the result that,
during 6 out of the 22 working days under review, only
63,400 oysters, yielding Es. 1,781-6-5, fell to the Gov-ern-
ment share, i.e., the total yield of six days was less than that
which was, with one exception, the 19th, obtained as the
result of a single day's work.

V.-ElMESVAEAM ISLAND.

GTJLF OF MANAAR

V.-RlMESVAEAM ISLAND.

In January 1887 it was my privilege to accompany the
Secretary to Grovernraent, Public Works Department, and
the Presidency Port Officer, on a tour of inspection of light-
houses, from Mangalore on the west to Gopdlpur on the
east, which come within the jurisdiction of the Madras
Government. My knowledge of the littoral of the Madras
Presidency was, apart from Madras, at that time confined to
E,4mesvaram Island on which I had spent a few days in
1886, and the West Coast from Cochin to Trivandrum which
I had visited, with a view to making a collection of the fishes
of Malabar, soon after my arrival in India in 1885. The
tour of light-house inspection afforded me an excellent
opportunity, even though the halts at the light-house
stations were, as a rule, very short, of forming a general idea
as to the zoological capacity of the different parts of the
coast, and deciding, by a visit to the fish bazdrs and cursory
examination of ' specimens ' cast up on shore, which afford, in
some measure, an index to the still living and submerged
fauna of the neighbouring sea, what parts of the coast
were likely to afford the most profitable field for future
investigation.

A casual non-scientific observer, walking along the sandy
surf-beaten beach at Madras, will probably notice nothing to
attract his attention except a number of coarse shells des-
tined for the manufacture of chimdm, an occasional flattened
jelly-fish, and swift-footed crabs [Ocypoda) which, on the
approach of man, scamper away, and disappear, like rabbits,
within their burrows. But, if the same observer walks along
the shore at Pdmban or Hare Island, Tuticorin, he cannot
help observing that it is strewn with broken fragments of
dead coral, among which branches of Madrepores are most
conspicuous, and sponges brought on shore by a recent tide,
or dried up above tide-mark. And, if he trusts'himself upon
the slimy corals which are exposed at low tide, and turns
them over so as to display their under- surface, he will find
hidden there a wealth of marine animals — crabs, boring

>Vv\

46

anemones, worms, shell-fish, b^ches-de-mer, and bright-
coloured encrusting sponges. And the Madras beach may,
allowing for differences of species, be taken as fairly represen-
tative of the coast of the Presidency with the exception of
the coral-fringed shores of the islands which skirt the coast
of the Gulf of Manaar, which I have visited on several
occasions in the months of July and August. These months,
though warm, proved very favorable, owing to the absence
of rain, for carrying out investigations, and for the drying
of specimens, e.g., stuffed fishes, big sponges, and corals, such
as are not suitable for preservation in alcohol or other fluid
medium. Even, however, under the most favorable climatic
conditions, the work of a marine zoologist beneath a tropical
sun is, apart from the personal discomfort caused by the sun
and glare on the water, except in the early morning and
towards sunset, attended by many diflSculties, which are
graphically described by Haeckel, who says,' speaking of
surface-netting with a gauze tow-net : —

* ' The wealth of varieties of marine creatures to be found in
the Bay of Belligam was evident even on my first expedition.
The glass vessels, into which I turned the floating inhabitants
of the ocean out of the gauze net, were quite full in a few
hours. Elegant Medusce, and beautiful Siphonophora were swim-
ming among thousands of little crabs and Salpce ; numbers of
larvae of mollusca were rushing about, mingled with fluttering
Myaleadce and other pteropoda, while swarms of the larvse of
worms, Crustacea, and corals, fell a helpless prey to greedy Sa-
gittm. Almost all the creatures are colourless, and as perfectly
transparent as the sea- water in which they carry on their hard
struggle for existence, which, indeed, on the Darwinian prin-
ciple of selection, has given rise to the transparency of these
pelagic creatures. But I soon discovered to my grief that,
within a very short time after being captured, at most half an
hour and often not more than a quarter, most of the fragile
creatures died ; their hyaline bodies grew opaque, and, even
before we could reach the land, I perceived the characteristic
odour exhaled by the soft and rapidly decomposing bodies."

Haeckel's experience is, unfortunately, not an uncommon
one, and, while staying at Pdmban, I frequently had the
mortification of finding, on my return from a surface-
netting expedition to my improvised laboratory at the
zemindary bungalow, instead of a crowd of living creatures,

I Vinit to Ceylon. Transl. by Clara Bell, 1883.

47

an amorphous mass composed of their corpses at the bottom
of mj collecting glasses. It is, in fact, essential for the pre-
servation of many of the gelatinous surface organisms that
they should, in this country, in the absence of an apparatus
by which they can be supplied with a constant stream of cool
water, be at once treated with the necessary fixing and
preservative re-agents ; but the management of the requi-
site processes is by no means an easy matter in the limited
space afforded by a native canoe. The suggestion made by
Haeckel that the death and decomposition of the delicate
organisms might be prevented by placing them in vessels
cooled by ice is, without doubt, an excellent one ; but un-
fortunately, ice cannot, as a rule, be procured in out-of-the-
way places where one most requires it.

Among the pelagic organisms which I have collected
over the coral reefs in the Gulf of Manaar may be mentioned
various small Medusce, Beroe, Cydippe, Bolina (present one
morning in such abundance that the net became instantly
filled with a thick jelly), dense crowds of Copepod and Schizo-
pod crustaceans sometimes rendering the surface of the water
milky ; Zocp.a, Phyllosoma, and Alima larvse ; violet-blue Jan-
thimv ; and Styliola acicula, a pteropod Mollusc, whose dead
glassy shells are very abundant in deposits from the sea
bottom. Less fi'equently met with were young Cephalopods,
of which the adults, as well as an Annelid [Nereis) obtained
by digging deep holes in the sand, are extensively used as
bait by the fishermen; Sa/pce; and the ova and young of fishes.
Floating, too, on the surface of the water, and conspicuous
by their bright colouring, were various Siphonophora — Phy-
salia (the Portuguese Man-of-war), Velella with its sun-
dial-like crest, and Porpita with its exquisitely marked disc.
Many minute pelagic animals were obtained by shaking in a
tumbler of water the marine Algce which were floating over
or living on the reefs, and of which the most conspicuous were
Sargassum vnlgare (Fig 1) and Padina pavonia (peacock's tail).
These pelagic organisms, from which the main food-supply of
the coral polyps is probably derived, were far more abundant
and varied over the Pamban reef during my visit to Rdmes-
varam Island in 1886 than in 1888 : and this is probably to
be explained by the fact that, in the former year, there was
but little wind, and the water was so clear that, in the early
morning before the gentle day breeze set in, the individual
corals could be clearly distinguished as I rowed over the reef;

48

Fig. 1. Sargasmtn Vulgate.

whereas in the latter year there was generally a strong south-
west wind blowing, and a rapid current running through the
Pdmban Pass carrying with it sediment in suspension, which
rendered the water turbid : and, as is known, a pure and trans-
parent condition of the water is the first and indispensable
condition for the life of many marine creatures, especially
those of the coast. Moreover, the ripple od the surface pro-
bably drove the pelagic animals into deeper water, which I did
not explore in search of them. On calm mornings, when the
surface has been teeming with small Medusce, I have seen the
living organisms and their dead gelatinous remains adhering
in large quantities to the surface of living corals with their
tentacles expanded, which were brought up for me by my
divers. There has been a noticeable absence of big jelly-
fishes during my visits to Rdm^svaram Island. Only, in fact,
during the last few days of my stay on the island in 1889

'U }^^}''^A''

49

did I see a few large Rhizo&tomas (called by the natives sori^=
nettles), floating over the reef or washed on shore. Phos-
phorescence, too, I have never seen well marked in the Grulf
of Manaar, the sight of an occasional luminous flash from a
pelagic crustacean being the poor reward of night vigils.

The island of Rdmesvaram, which is visited during the
course of the year by enormous numbers of Hindu pilgrims
to the celebrated temple, is separated from the mainland by
the Pdmban Pass, which connects Palk's Strait with the
north end of the Gulf of Manaar, and is 1,350 yards in width.^
The depths in the channel range from 10^ to 15 feet at low
water, but it shoals up very suddenly on both sides, so that
great care is necessary in navigating vessels through. On
the west side of the pass is the great dam, consisting of
large masses of sandstone, all having a more or less flat
siu'face, and which formerly were part of a causeway extend-
ing from Edmesvaram Island across to the mainland. The
remains of this causeway are still visible on the main road
from Pdmban to the town of Edmesvaram.

According to the folk-lore of the Hindus, the so-called
bridge, which formerly connected Rdmesvaram Island with
Ceylon, was built by an army of monkeys when Rdma made
war against Edvana, who had carried off his wife Sita to the
island of Lanka (Ceylon), and as Mr. Bruce Foote observes -.^

" The series of large flat blocks of sandstone so strongly
resemble a series of gigantic stepping-stones, that it is impos-
sible to wonder at the imagination of the author or (in analogy
with the Homeric epos) authors of the Eamayana that the rocky
ridge was really an old causeway of human construction."

In connection with the building of the reef a story goes
to the effect that the common South Indian squirrel (Sciurus
palmarum) used to help the monkeys by rolling in the sand
on the shore, so as to collect it in its thick hairy coat, and
then depositing it between the piled up stones, so as to
cement them together. At which service Rdma was so

1 The following account of the Pamlmn Pass is mainly based on Extracts
from Hydrographic notice, derived from survey and remarks furnished by
Mr. Morris Chapman, Assistant Superintendent, Marine Survey of India,,
1878.

2 Mem. GeoL Surv., Ind., vol. XX, 1883.

a

50

pleased that he stroked the squirrel on the back, which has,
ever since, borne the finger marks.

Writing in 1821 concerning Adam's Bridge, Davy ob-
serves ^ that :

" No one who looks at a map and notices the little distance
(about 17 miles) between the nearest point of the island (Ceylon)
and continent, and how, by the chain of rocks and sand-banks
commonly called Adam's Bridge, they are still imperfectly con-
nected, can entertain much doubt that the connection was once
perfect. This inquiry is more curious than useful. It woxdd be
much more useful to endeavour to complete that which nature
has begun, and to make the channel, which is now obstructed
and dangerous, clear and safe, and fit for the purposes of coast
navigation. If, on examination, sandstone and coral rock
should be found constituting part of Adam's Bridge instead of
primitive rock, one necessary inference is that the channel, at
whatever period formed, was once deeper and more open than it
is at present, and another inference is that, in prot^iss of time,
it will be closed up, and Ceylon joined to the continent."

Tradition runs to the effect that, at the time of the
disruption of Rdm^svaram Island from the mainland on the
one side and Ceylon on the other, the cows became prisoners
on the island, and being unable, like the cows at Cape Cod,
which are fed on herring's heads, to adapt themselves to a fish
diet, took to living on sea weeds, and have become, by
degrees, converted into diminutive "■ metamorphosed cows,"
which may still be seen grazing on the shore. This story is
based on the fact that portions of the skulls of cats and dogs,
including the articulated temporal, parietal, and occipital
bones, which are sometimes picked up on the beach, bear a
rude resemblance to the skull of a cow, the horns being
represented by the zygoma.

When I was staying at Pdmban in 1888, a bucket
dredger was at work in the Pass, and from the mud brought
up by it, I obtained many small Crustacea, Echinoderms
(chiefly Lagannm depressum and Fibidaria voka), Mollusca (of
which Leda mmiritiana was one of the most abundant)
including great quantities of the little Avicula vexillumy
which was formerly mistaken for the young of the pearl
oyster, a single Gephyrean (Sipunculus sp.), Branchiostoma

' Travels in Ceylon.

61

^Amphioxus), and many fragments of a small Fangia, which
must be very plentiful, but of which no perfect specimen was
obtained.

Southward of the P^mban Pass are three islands, Pulli,
PuUivausel, and Coorisuddy, completely encircled by an
irregular coral reef, the whole forming a natural breakwater
protecting the pass and the channels leading to it from the
violence of the south-west winds. The space between the
northern edge of this reef and the pass forms a fine sheltered
anchorage for vessels of light draft in all weathers. The
deepest water between the above islands and the Pass is
immediately south of Coorisuddy, and is called the basin, over
which there is an average depth of 18 feet, but in one
spot there is a depth of 21 feet. This basin is, however, very
narrow, being simply a hole scoured out by the action of the
water in rushing through the pass : and, consequently, is of
little value to ships, as it has the pass to the northward of if.
with only 10 feet, and the sand-bank channel to the south-
ward with only 9| feet at low water.

The tides are very irregular at Pdmban, the rise and fall
being much affected by the winds. The average springs rise
3 feet ; but, during neaps, sometimes for 48 hours, there is
frequently only a rise and fall of I or 2 inches. The
currents are generally influenced by, and strong in propor-
tion to the force of the wind. Thi-ough the Pdmban Pass
the current frequently attains to a velocity of from 5 to 6
knots an hour, rendering it at times difficult even to take
full-powered steamers through. During the north-east mon-
soon the current sets to the north through the pass. The only
months in which a real tidal carrent is noticeable are March,
April, and October, when it generally sets six hours each
way.

No records of the temperature of the water over the reef
are extant, and, as my visits have always been at the same
season, extending over only a few weeks of the year, the
temperature observations which I have made are practically
of no value. The following table, however, shows the
maximum and minimum and monthly range, recorded at the
Pamban Marine office in the shade at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
during the twelve months from April 1st, 1888, to March Slst,
1 889. The range of temperature during that period will be
seen to be from 76^ to 92\ i.e., 16° :—

62

Min.

Max.

Range.

April 1888 ..

81°

92°

11°

May ,,

79°

91°

12°

June ,,

84°

88°

4°

July „

84°

89"

5°

August „

84°

88°

4°

September ,,

84°

89°

5°

October ,,

78°

89°

11"

November ,,

78°

89°

11°

December ,,

77°

86°

9"

January 1889

76°

81"

5°

February ,,

80°

88»

8°

March „

82°

92°

10°

The town of Pdmban is situated on the western extremity
of the island, and lies to the west and south-west of the light-
house, built on the top of a sand-hill, at the foot of which is
a good example of sand-rock, i.e., a mass of fine sand, which
has become compacted by the action of wind and spray, so as
to form a stratified friable rock exposed amid the surrounding
loose blown sand. With the exception of the Port officer's
house and a few others, the houses consist principally of huts
made of cajan leaves. The native population is mainly
made up of boatmen and fishermen, some of whom find
employment in carrying coolies over to Ceylon, and others
in ferrying the pilgrims from the mainland to the island.
There are also a large number of coolies, who are engaged
in hauling vessels through the Pass when the wind is
adverse.

Pdmban boasts of a ruined fort built by the Dutch
during the Dutch occupation of the island, over which I was
taken by a native guide, who pointed out as objects of interest
some stone cannon-balls, battered dredge-buckets of modern
construction, and some barrels of fuse lying mouldering from
age in what he termed a conjee (rice) house, a damp, ill-
ventilated building, wherein, at some period at which the
Public Works Department was engaged on works in the
island, the recalcitrant sapper used to be placed in confine-
ment on a sedative conjee and water diet.

As regards the food-supply at Pdmban, beef and mutton
are not easily procurable, goat, long-legged and emaciated,
being the principal animal supplied. Fowls and native
vegetables can always be obtained in the bazdr. The local

53

©ggs possess a peculiar flavour which is attributed to the fact
that the fowls feed partly on fish, affording an example of
polyphagtj, which reminds one of the observation of John
Hunter, that a species of Gull {Larus tridactylus) which,
though commonly feeding on fish, and having its stomach
adapted to flesh diet, can also live on grain. Another species
of Grull (Larits argentatus) is said to live in the Shetland
Islands on grain in the summer and on fish in the winter.

The fish supply at Pdmban is very plentiful, and a visit
to the ill-smelling fish bazdr always showed an abundance
of fish, unappetising Cephalopods, and Crustacea (Neptunus
pelagicm, Sci/lla serrata, ^c.) for sale. During my visit in
1889 the following food-fishes were obtained either by means
of a drag-net or from the bazdr ^ : —

ELASMOBEANCHII (Sharks and rays).

Carcharias. sp. juv. I Trygon uarnak.

Zygsena malleus. | Myliobatis nieuhofii.

Lates calcarifer.
Lutianus rivulatus.
Lutianus roseus.
Therapon theraps.
Pristipoma hasta.
Scolopsis. sp.
Gerres oyena.
Drepane punctata.
Scatophagus argus.
Upeneoides tragula.
Upeneus indicus.
Lethrinus nebulosus

TELEOSTEI (Bony fishes).

Teuthis oramin.

Caranx speciosus.

Caranx ire.

Equula edentula.

Sillago sihama.

Mugil sj)eigleri.

Cynoglossus macrolepidotus.

Arius thalassinus.

Saurida tumbil.

Hemiramphus xanthopterus.

Clupea. sp.

Peilona leschenhaulti.

My head-quarters on the island have been mainly fixed
at the zemindar's bungalow, situated on the top of a sand-
hill near the Pdmban light-house, which, were it more easy
of access from Madras, would make an excellent marine
biological station. But I have occasionally pitched my camp
at a muntapum on the shore at Edmesvaram, close to the
spot where the pilgrims go through certain mysterious cere-
monies and ablutions.

The technical names given are those used in Day's Fishes of India.

64

The verandah of the zemindar's bungalow affords a good
spot for the study of the common animals and birds of the
island. The former consist mainly of ill-conditioned pariah
dogs ; goats trying to extract the requisite amount of food-
Btulfs for the maintenance of life from dried palmyra leaves
and spiny Acacia planifrons, the spines of which serve as no
protection against the attacks of these hard-mouthed herbi-
vorous mammals ; and donkeys suffering from motor paresis
of their hind limbs. The shrill voiced palm squirrel and
musk-rat infested the bungalow, and a friendly mungoos
made repeated visits when I was at breakfast. Of birds, the
splendid but shameless crow^ made continual raids on my
specimens drying in the sun ; and parakeets screaming in a
neighbouring Bo tree, and screech-owls making night hideous
with their domestic quarrels proved a constant source of
irritation.

During my stay on the island ^in 1886 the following
birds were shot by my shikaree ^ : —

17. Tinnunculus alaudarius. Kestrel.

23. Micronisus badius. Shikra.

76. Athene brama. Spotted owlet.
117. Merops viridis. Indian bee-eater.
149. Paleeornis rosa. Eose-headed parakeet.
180. Brachypternus aurantius. Golden backed wood-
pecker.
197. Xantholsema indica. Crimson-breasted barbet.
205. Hierococcyx varius. Common hawk cuckoo.
212. Coccystes melanoleucos. Piedcrested cuckoo.
217. Centropus rufipennis. Common coucal.
255. Upupa nigripennis. Indian hoopoe.
257. Lanius erythronotus. Rufous-backed shrike.
260. Lanius hardwickii. Bay-backed shrike.
278. Dicrurus macrocercus. Common drongo shrike.
433. Malaeocircus griseus. White-headed babbler.
452. 1x03 luteolus. White-browed bush bulbul.
462. Pycnonotus hsemorhous. Madras bulbul.
467. lora zeylonica. Black-headed green bulbul.
475. Copsychus saularis. Magpie robin.
660. Corvus culminatus. Indian corby.
663. Corvus splendens. Indian crow.
684. Acridotheres tristis. Common myna.

* Corvus splendens, vel. impudicus.

* The technical names given correspond, as do the numbers, to those
used in Jerdon's Birds of India.

55

687. Temenuchiis pagodarum. Black-headed myna.

795. Turtur suratensis. Spotted dove.

884. Tringa miniita. Little stint.

944 PhsenicopterHS roseus. Flamingo.

980. Xema brunnicephala. Brown-headed gull.

985. Sterna seena. Large river tern.

On the sandy shore of Shingle Island, one of the islands
which intervene? between Ramesvaram Island and the main-
land, which is overgrown with long grass reaching in some
places to a height of 6 feet, my friend Mr. J. R. Henderson
saw, in early June, hundreds of a doubtful species of Tern (?)
and a few of the large river Tern {Sterna seena). Of these
the latter laid a single egg in a tunnel excavated among the
matted roots of the grass, and artfully concealed from view.
The former laid a single egg ia a hole scooped out in the
sand near the water's edge, where the grass was either very
short or absent ; and the eggs were easily missed owing to
the resemblance between their colour and that of the sand,
which affords an example of the adaptation of the colouring
of eggs to their natural surroundings for the purpose of con-
cealment, according to the principle of protective colouration.
In July 1888 the shores of Coorisuddy Island^ were in posses-
sion of an army of occupation of flamingoes, which were,
no doubt, feeding on worms and burrowing crabs.

The insect would, apart from the irrepressible ants and
mosquitoes, is only poorly represented on Edmesvaram
Island, and of Lepidoptera the most conspicuous was Papilio
{Menelaides) hector, flying swift-winged along the shore or
far out at sea. The following Lepidoptera were captured in
July 1889 :—

Mycalesis mineiis, Linn.
Melanitis leda, Linn.
Tarucus pKnius, Fabr.
Catochrysops strabo, Fair.
Catopsilia crocale, Cramer.

Catopsilia catilla, Cramer.
Terias hecabe, Linn.
Papilio hector, Linn.
Papilio erithonius, Cramer.

* The following botanical specimens were collected by me on Coori-
suddy Island : — Bodoncea viscosa, Eugenia jambolana, Pemphis acidula, Olden-
landia umbellata (Indian madder or cbay root), Vernonin cinerea, Launaa
pinnatifida, Salvadora persica, Enicostema littorale, Ipomcea biloba (Goat's foot),
Vlerodendron inerme, Boerhaavia difusa (spreading hog weed), Aerua
javanica, Stteeda motioica, Euphorbia corrigioloides , Euphorbia thymifolia,
Fhyllanthus polyphyllus, Pandanus odoratissimus (screw-pine), and Cynodon
dactylon (huriallee grass).

56

Though I came across none myself, I was shown a
bottle containing a collection of scorpions, which had been
caught at Pamban ; and the big spider {Mygale), which is
accused of causing the death of sheep and goats by poisoning
them on the muzzle, has been captured by Mr. Henderson
in the zemindar's bungalow.

Commencing near the zemindar's bungalow and extend-
ing for some distance along the north coast of the island,
is a fossil coral reef, which I cannot do better than describe
in Mr. Bruce Foote's words * :

"The upraised reef," he says, "is a striking feature of
the north coast of Ramesvaram Island, and is worthy of much
closer study than the time at my disposal enabled me to bestow
upon it. It shows best along the beach beginning a couple
of hundred yards west of the zemindar's bungalow, where it
forms a little irregular scarp about a yard or 4 feet high,
against the roof of which the waves break in rough weather.
Of its true coral reef origin there can be no doubt, as in many
places the main mass of the rock consists of great globular
meandroid corals, or of huge cups of a species of porites
which, beyond being bleached by weather action, are very
slightly altered, and still remain in the position in which they
originally grew. The base of the reef is not exposed, as far as
I could ascertain, not having been sufficiently upraised along
the beach ; but in a well-section a little to the south of the
Gandhamana Parvattam Chatti*am the thickness of the coral
reef exposed above the surface of the water is at least 10 feet,
and probably much more. The great swampy flat forming the
northern lobe, as it were, of Ramesvaram Island, consists, I
believe, entirely of this upraised reef hidden only by a thin
coating of alluvium, or the water of the brackish lagoons which
cover the major part of the surface, but do not form a con-
tinuous sheet of water as shown in the map.

"I came across masses of coral protruding at intervals through
the alluvium in the very centre of the flats north-westward of
the great sand-hill crowned by the chattram just named. The
raised reef is very well seen to the north-eastward of Eames-
varam town, where it forms a miniature cliff from 3 to 4 or
possibly 5 feet high, and continuing along the coast after the
latter turns and trends to north-west. Time did not admit of
my actually following it up to Pesausee Moondel Point, but
I went to within a mile of the point, and could see no change of
character of the coast line on examination through a strong

1 Mem. Ocol. Sun'., Ind., vol. XX, 1883.

pR

i
i

57

field-glass. The raised reef shows strongly also along the
western side of the flat northwards of Ariangundu. The south
side of the reef is, along the north coast, completely covered up
by the great spreads of blown sands which occupj' the greatei-
part of the surface of tLie island. On the east side of the island
the reef does not e.xtend close up to the great temple, but stops
short abruptly about 300 yards to the north-east, and does not
re-appear on the coast of the bay south of the temple. South of
Pamban town also there were no signs of any upraised coral,
nor could I see any indication eastward along the south coast,
as far as the eye could reach from Coondacaul Mooudel Point,
while the great south-east spit terminating at the point called
Thunnuscody is covered by a double ridge of great blown sand-
liills. An important series of trial sinkings made by the Port
officer at Pamban right across the island, from north to south,
about 2 miles east of the town, in order to test the feasibility of
the propfjsed ship canal, did not reveal any southerly extension
of the raised reef. The probability is that it forms a mere
narrow strip along the beach from Pamban to Ariangundu, but
widens out thence to the north-eastward to form the northern
lobe of the island.

" Parts of the reef lying between collections (colonies as it
were) of the great globular or cup-shaped coral masses form a
coarse sandstone made up of broken coral, shells, and sand
(mostly silicious) a typical coral sandstone.

"At the Pamban end of the raised reef it shows a slight
northerly dip, and masses of dead coral, apparently in situ,
protrude through the sand below high-water mark. Reefs of
living coral fringe the present coast, but these I was unable to
examine, so cannot say whether the corals now growing there
are specificalh^ allied to those which formed the reef now
upraised, but all the mollusca and Crustacea I found occurring
fossil in the latter belong to species now living in the surround-
ing sea."

Mr. Bruce Foote writes further : —

"It is quite evident from the occurrence of the old coral
reef on Eamesvaram Island that the latter must have been
upraised several feet within a comparatively recent period, but
unfortunately there are no data by which to calculate the exact
amount of the upheaval. The upheaval which affected Eames-
varam Island doubtless affected the adjoining mainland, and,
by upraising the coast, exposed the sandstones, which have been
described above as forming a low wall-like cliff bordering the
beach as if by a built quay."

H

58

A good example of a sandstone quay wall is to be seen
on the mainland between the great dam and Muntapum.'

In a letter to me Dr. Johannes Walther, of the University
of Jena, who made a short visit to lidraesvaram Island early
in 1889, writes concerning the fossil reef : —

' ' Das f ossile riff begiunt direct unter dem bungalow, und
lasst sich ixai die ganze nordkliste bis nach Eamesvarani verfol-
geu. Es ist wundervoU. Porites 4 m. dick, und viele andere
formen. Bei Eamesvaram ist ein sebr sckones fossiles Litlio-
thamnium lager, und interessante metamorphosen des subfos-
sili^n riffes."

Possessing only very scanty geological knowledge, I am
unable to deal satisfactorily with the fossil reef, which will,
I trust, receive full justice from Dr. Walther.^ Commenc-
ing, as already stated, near the zemiudar's bungalow it
forms a wall exposed to a height of 3 or 4 feet above the
sandy shore in which it is imbedded, and extending, almost
without interruption, for a distance of a quarter of a mile,
after which it becomes covered over with loose sand, and is
exposed only at intervals. The main mass of this wall, as
also of the big detached coral blocks which intervene between
it and the sea, and are washed by liigh tides, is built up of
enormous blocks of For it ex, one of which, isolated from
neighbouring blocks, has a diameter of 12 feet. That these
blocks are imbedded as they grew is shown not only by
their reef-like appearance, but also by their upright position,
the vertical columns of many of the blocks bearing testimony
to the fact that they have not been cast up by the waves at
random, like the big coral fragments which are exposed
at low tide, and lie irregularly in all possible unnatural
positions. The calices on the surface of the fossil corals are

' North of Kilakarai, a to^^^l on the coast southwest of Ram^svaram
Island, a very perfect wall of sandstone extends for some distance along the
shore, in the loose sand covering which many copper coins— Roman, Chola,
Pandyan, Dutch, Indo-French, &c. — have been recently found ; and a
theory has been started that this spot is the site of an old Pandyan city.
The area which intervon?s between the fringing coral reef and the sloping
shore at Kilakarai, and is uncovered by water at low tide, is covered by an
extensive green carpet formed by a dense growth of Zoatithi agglutinated
together by damp sand, among which small isolated Madrepores live, though
periodically exposed to the heat of the sun. Opposite the town of Kilakarai
there is a wide gap in the reef, through which small sailing boats can pass
into the shallow harbour within the reef, on which the force of the waves is
broken .

- Vide aB.cport by Dr. Walther in the Verhandlioigen der GeselUchaft fur
Erdkimde zu Berlin, 1889, No. 7.

59

either perfectly distinct over large areas, so as to render
their identity certain, or, especially in the case of the blocks
which are still exposed to wave action, worn away, or con-
cealed by a crystalline incrustation. Imbedded in cavities
in the Porites, once bored and occupied by the living mollusc
animal, are immense numbers of the shells of the lithodomous
Venerupis macrophi/lla^ which abounds on the living reef at
the present day. The Porifcs are frequently capped by
Afitneaiis, which are also fi)und firmly fixed to their lateral
aspect. Less commonly they are iucrusted with Mceandriiins
{C(florin), which, like the Aiifi'(Pan-s, also form solid isolated
blocks, but of far smaller size than the Porites. The blocks
are, for the most part, covered on their upper surface by a
crust of thick compact laminated sand-rock, imbedded within
which are the shells of mollusca — Cardium, Area, Tttrho,
Ceritliian}, Spoi(c'i//NK, &c. I have also found several cara-
paces of fossil Crustacea, whose species I am unable to
identify. At the commencement of the reef, i.e., at the end
nearest to the bungalow, the sand-rock is arranged in a
s accession of layers with a dip seawards, and forms an
incrusting layer about 8 inches thick. A little further on
the reef has a terraced appearance, an upper terrace being
formed by sand-rock horizontally stratified, exposed to a
height of 18 inches, and supported by underljdng Porites,
Adroici, Ca'Iorid, and Tnrhtnaria ; and a lower twrace formed
by a flat-topped mass of Porifes, about 9 yards in length,
covered with loose sand. Not the least interesting feature
of the coral wall is the presence of a bank of Madrepores,
extending over a length of 8 yards at a higher level than
the Porites, and evidently still placed as they originally
grew, their radiating branches spreading outwards from the
base, and forming a broad fiat surface, which affords support
to a thick superjacent layer of consolidated sand-rock. The
maximum height of the Madrepores above the loose shore
sand is 18 inches, and they clearly form a portion of a bank,
such as may be seen spreading over considerable areas on
the living reef on a calm day.

As one looks out to sea from the Pdmban beach at low
water on a breezy day, three distinct zones can be clearly
distinguished, viz. : — (1) commencing about three-quarters
of a mile from the shore, and extending to the horizon, clear
blue water separated by a sharp line of demarcation from
(2) a zone discoloured by sediment in suspension carried by
the carrent through the Pdmban Pass. This zone, in which

60

the living corals flourish in spite of the current, sometimes
running at the rate of 7 to 8 knots per hour, to which they are
exposed, terminates at the sharply defined land face of the
reef,^ the corals of which, constantly bathed by water and
never exposed above the surface, act as a natural breakwater
which breaks the force of the waves, so that, at high tide, the
shallow water between the reef and the shore is smooth.
The land face of the reef is made up almost entirely of
3Iadre2)ores, amid a perfect forest of arborescent sea weeds
and fleshy Alci/onicois which, as one rows over the reef on a
bright still morning, can be easily recognised as large snow-
white patches. Other genera — Porifes, Ccelorkiy Turbinaria^
&c., occur in deeper water. (3) There is a zone, about 40
yards in breadth, between the reef and the shore, which is
covered by water at high tide, but completely exposed at low
tide, and made up of dead coral blocks, fragments, and debris,
among which branches of worn Madrepofca are most conspi-
cuous, broken off or rolled along from the reef, and covered
with low-growing clumps of brown and green sea weeds, and
enclosing shallow pools in which " coral fi^^hes " of brilliant
hue may be seen, and colonies of Oen'fhia leaving in their
wake a characteristic track. Many of the larger coral blocks
are extensively worn by the process of solution, or eroded by
boring mollusca and other animals. Among the crevices
of the eroded corals various crastacea [Gonodiictijlus, Pilum-
nus, &G.), find a home; and crawling on their surface, which
is frequently covered by erect or sessile encrusting sj)onges,
or hidden beneath them, Aimelids {Ampiihtome, Nereis, dc),
and bright-colored Planarians may be found.

From the Paniban beach tlie sea bottom slopes very
gradually to a depth of 20 to 26 feet at a distance of three-
quarters of a mile from the shore. BetAveen the Kathoo
Vallimooni Eeef, marked on the survey chart as being " par-
tially dry at low water spring tides," and the spit of
mainland which terminates at Point Pdmen a boat passage
has been carved out by natural processes. North of Hdmes-
varam Island the living coral reef ft rmation is stated by the

' In tlie recently issued third edition of Darwin's Structuie and Bistri-
bution of Coral Reefs, the reefs of the Madras Coast, of the Gulf of IManaar
and the northern part of Ceylon are not indicated on the map showing
the distribution of coral reefs hecause as Professor Bonny says (]). 247) : —
" The sea off the northern part of Ceylon is exceedingly shallow, and,
therefore, I have not coloured the reefs which partially fringe portions of
the shoi-fs an I the adjoining islets, as well as the Indian promontory of
Madura."

61

local fishermen, in answer to independent inquiries by Mi*.
Bruce Foote and myself, to extend only as far as Pillay
Mudum, 7 miles south-east of the Vigai river, which, though
easily crossed on foot in the dry season, is .in high flood
during the monsoon, and, for about a fortnight in the year,
impassable even on a raft.

Piled up over a limited area at the base of the fossil
reef were masses and fragments of pumice ^ encrusted with
Polyzoa, C/umue, tubes of tubicolous worms, BaJani, young
pearl oysters, &c., and dislodged in the first instance, "in all
probability, from the volcano of Krakatoa during the great
eruption of 1883, a curious result of which has been that, in
the district of Charingin, which was depopulated by the tidal
wave during the outburst, tigers have increased so enor-
mously in number that the Grovernment reward for killing
them has been fixed at 200 guilders each.

Washed on shore by the waves, protecting the upper
surface of the dead corals, or brought up for me from the
sea bottom by my divers, were nodular calcareous Algce,
which, from microscopical examination, I find to be identical
with those which were dredged off the town of Negombo
in Ceylon by Captain Cawne Warren, and reported on by
Mr. H. J. Carter.'^ " The specimens," says that authority,
" consist of calcareous nodules of different sizes, which may
be said to originate, in the first instance, in the agglutination
of a little sea bottom by some organism into a transportable
mass which, increasing after the same manner as it is cur-
rented about, may finally attain almost unlimited dimen-
sions. They are, therefore, compounded of all sorts of
invertebrate animals, whose embryoes, swimming about in
every direction, find them, although still free and detached,
of sufiicient weight and solidity to offer a convenient position
for development, and hence the number of species in and
about them .... Perhaps no family of organisms
has entered into their composition or increased their solidity
more than calcareous Algas {Meloieme) which, in successively
laminated or nulliporoid growths, have rendered these

1 " The fragments of pumice thrown up into the ocean during far dis-
tant sub-marine eruptions, or washed down from volcanic lands, are at all
times to be found floating about the surface of the sea, and there beiug cast
upon the newly formed islet produce by their disintegration the clayey
materials for the formation of a soil, the red earth of coral islands."
Murrav, Eoyal Institution, March 16, 1888.

2 Ann. May. Nat. Hist., June 1880.

62

nodules almost solid tlirougliout, or covered with short, thick,

nuUiporiform processes Next to the part

which the Afeiohe.Kue have taken in their formation may be
mentioned the sessile Fomniixifera, and these have, in turn,
been overgrown, in many instances, by Pohjzoa."

Specimens have been picked up on shoie both by Mr.
Bruce Foote and myself of a curious body, the nature of
which has given rise to some discussion, and is still sub
judice. One of them was exhibited at the Linnean ISociety,
and Dr. Anderson and Mr. Dendy were inclined to regard it
as, possibly, the consolidated roe of a fish ; whereas Professor
Charles Stewart was of opinion that it was a vegetable
structure, his opinion being based on the examination of
microscopical preparations which he demonstrated to me
when I was recently in Europe.

Among other specimens collected on the Pdmban beach
I may mention the complex tubular skeletons of the Choe-
topod Filograna, and large blocks of drift wood bored by the
mollusca Teredo and ParcqyJioJas, of which the latter has
recently destroyed the bottom of the local port gig.

The Indian fin-whale {Bakenoptem indica) has been
known to accompany vessels in the Gulf of Manaar, and I
have seen one close to a . steamer in which I was rounding
Cape Comorin. It is related that, some years ago, the
schooner Abdul lidinaii, which was at anchor close to
Pamban, was suddenly released from her moorings, and
towed out to sea to a distance of several miles by some invi-
sible agent. A few days afterwards the carcase of a whale
was cast on shore, and the theory was that this whale was
the cause of the involuntary cruise, it having been tempted
out of curiosity to examine the ship, in whose grapnel it is
supposed to have been caught, and to have taken the steamer
in tow until it liberated itself.

The phytophagous Sirenian HaUcore dugong (the dugong),
which is said * to be found in the salt water inlets of South
Malabar, feeding on the vegetable matter about the rocks and
basking and sleeping in the morning sun, is according to
Emerson Tennent'^ attracted in numbers to the inlet from the
Bay of Calpentyn on the west coast of Ceylon to Adam's
Bridge by the still water and the abimdance of marine algse
in this part of the Grulf of Manaar. It is of an extremely

^ Jerdon, Mammals of India. * Ceylon, vol. II, 1860.

63

shy disposition, and I Lave never seen it myself, though I
have heard of dead carcases being thrown up on the Pdniban
beach, or living specimens being caught in the fishing nets.
One was, in fact, caught, together with a young one, the day
before my arrival at Pamban in 1889, and promptly sold for
food, as it is considered a great delicacy. There is a tradi-
tion among the natives that a box of money was found in the
stomach of a dugong which was cut up in the Pdmban bazdr
some years ago ; and an official is now always invited to be
present at the examination of the stomach contents, so that
the possessors of the carcase may not be punished under the
Treasure Trove Act for concealing treasure. But the stomach
contents invariably prove to be green sea- weed. The fat of
the dugong is believed to be efhcacious in the treatment of
dysentery, and is administered in the form of sweetmeats,
or used instead of ghee in the preparation of food. The
skeleton of a female dugong in the Madras Museum shows,
encased in the upper jaw, the functionless teeth, the blunt
points of which are, during life, covered by a fleshy lip form-
ing a snout. The female is described by Tennent {op. cit.)
when suckling her young, as holding it to her breast with one
flipper, while swimming with the other, holding the heads
of both above water, and, when disturbed, suddenly diving
and displaying her fish-like tail.

The edible turtle {CheJone mi/das) which I have seen
carrying the cirrhiped Chelonohia testudiiiana^ a,nd the pearl
oyster attached by its byssus to the carapace, is very abun-
dant in the shallow water near the sandy shores of the islands
in the vicinity of Edmesvaram, on which the female lays her
eggs. A large specimen, whose skeleton has been preserved,
was purchased for eight annas on the understanding that the
vendor should have the flesh as a perquisite. The process of
removal of the edible portions fat, flesh, and viscera was not
a pleasant operation to witness. The victim was placed on
its back, and secured by ropes which did not prevent demon-
strative flapping of its fins during the operation, skilfully
performed with a carving knife, of removal of the breast-
plate so as to display the internal organs, which were re-
moved together with their investing fat ; the pulsations of
the heart, which was removed last of all, the snapping of

* I have also seen parasitic pedunculated cirrhipeds attached to the skin
of a sea-snake [Uydrophis), the gills of Xeptimus pelayicus, and the antenna
of Palinuriis dasypus.

64

the jaws, the plaiuti\'e expression of the eyes, and general
indications of discomfort forming a ghastly spectacle not
easily to be forgotten. The flesh of the edible turtle is
described by Tennent as being sold piecemeal in the market
place at Jafi^'na while the animal is still alive, each customer
being served with any part selected which is cut off and sold
by weight ; and Darwin, referring to the gigantic tortoise
of the Galapagos Archipelago, says that, when a tortoise is
caught, a slit is made in the skin near the tail, so as to see
whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not,
the animal is liberated, and it is said to soon recover from
the minor surgical operation.

A single specimen of the land tortoise {Nicoria trijuga),
found at the foot of a tree on the sandy soil outside the town
of Pdmban, was brought to me for sale. The land snakes
of the island are represented, so far as I know, by Lycodoii
aulicua and Tropidonotas .sfolatus, of which the latter bit
Mr. Henderson's native servant in the foot, causing great
torture until he was assured that it was not a toxicophidlan.
Batrachians I have not seen on the island, but the existence
of Mana /icxadacf//Ia, which is, I am told, eaten in the Indo-
French possessions, was made evident by its nocturnal croaking
in a tank near the bungalow.

One of the edible Ilolotinirians'^ {Trcpauga or Beches-de-mer)
is very abundant -in the mud on the south shore at Pdmban,
and in the vicinity of Ramesvaram, at both which places it
is prepared for exportation to Penang and Singapore. The
process of preparation, which is not an appetising one to
watch, is as follows: —

The Holothurians are collected as they lie in the mud at
low water, and placed in a chaldron which is heated by a
charcoal fire. As the temperature rises in the chaldron the
still living animals commit suicide by the convenient process
of ejecting their digestive apparatus, &c., and become reduced
to empty leathery sacs which, by loss of water consequent on
the temperature to which tliey are exposed, shrivel consider-
ably. At the end of twenty minutes or half an hour the
boiling process is stopped, and the shrivelled animals are
buried in the sand until the following morning, when the
boiling process is repeated. Finally, they are arranged
according to their size, and are ready for shipment.

' Holothtirlu marmorata.

65

As regards the question ^ whether Hololhurians live on
living coral or obtain nutriment from swallowing the sand and
detrital material, the two most abundant species in the Gulf
of Manaar {H. atra and H. marmorata) live, not on the reef, but
on the muddy bottom between the reef and the shore, which
is frequently uncovered at low tide. From repeated exami-
nation of the contents of their alimentary canal, I have been
unable to find any evidence that they have been feeding on
living coral, the swallowed materials consisting, for the most
part, of sand, coral debris, small Mollusca, Alcyonian spicules,
and sea weeds.

^ Vide Darwin, Coral Beefs, 3rd edition, 1889, p. 20.

VI.-FAUNA OF THE GULF OF
MANAAE.

VI.-FAUNA OF THE GULF OF

MANAAR.

This report upon the Fauna of the Indian side of the Gulf
of Manaar is composed of lists of those species which have
been obtained by myself from Rdm^svaram and the neigh-
bouring islands, and Tuticorin, including the pearl banks.

I take this opportunity of expressing my hearty thanks
to Mr, Arthur Dendy, Professor Jeffrey Bell, Mr. J. E,.
Henderson, and Mr. Edgar A. Smith, for the great assist-
ance which they have rendered in connection with the collec-
tions of sponges, echinoderms, Crustacea, and moUusca,

The report must be regarded as a preliminary one, and I
have made no attempt to classify the worms, nudibranchs,
tunicata, etc., which await identification.

POEIFEEA.

The sponges recorded below were collected by me either
in the neighbourhood of Edmesvaram Island or at Tuticorin,
and sent to Mr. Arthur Dendy at the British Museum,
Natural History, by whom they are described in detail in
the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, September
1887, and February 1889.

As regards the first collection, which was made at Edmes-
varam, Mr. Dendy writes : —

" The collection is of exceptional interest, owing to the fact
that it is the first which has been obtained from this particular
locality. Indeed our knowledge of the sponge-fauna of the
entire Indian Ocean is extremely deficient. This deficiency is
almost certainly due to want of investigation rather than to any
actual scarcity of sponges. Mr. Ridley and I have already
pointed oat, in our report on the Monaxonida collected by
H. M. S. Challenger, that ' this little-known field will probably
yield a rich harvest to whoever has the good luck to thoroughly
investigate it ;' and this statement is amply borne out by Mr.
Thurston's researches.

" The best known locality for sponges in the Indian Ocean
is undoubtedly Ceylon ; Bowerbank, Gray, and Carter have all

70

written upon the sponge-fauna of this particular district, and
the sponge-fauna of Madras, in so far as is evidenced bj' the
material at my disposal, bears a striking resemblance to it.
Thus, out of the ten determinable species from Madras, four,
viz., Halichondria panicea (a cosmopolitan species), Axinella don-
nam, Hircinia clathrata, and Hircinia vallata, have already been
recorded from the neighbourhood of Ceylon.

" There can be no doubt that the present collection was
obtained in shallow or moderately shallow water, although
there is no record of the depth. Species with a strong deve-
lopment of spongin in the skeleton-fibre predominate, as might
have been safely predicted from the climatic conditions of the
locality."

The majority of the sponges, as will be seen, belong to
the Monaxonida, which " comprise by far the most commonly
met with and abundant of all sponges. They occur in
greater or less profusion in all parts of the world, but are
more especially shallow-water forms. They may be col-
lected between tide-marks almost anywhere."^

None of the Gulf of Manaar sponges, which I have
collected from between tide-marks up to 11 fathoms, are of
any commercial value. ^ The colours of many of them are
very bright, but soon fade or change when the sponge is
dried or immersed in alcohol.

The following list includes only a portion of my collec-
tion, many of the sponges still awaiting identification. Of
the 31 species recorded there are 18 new species, and 2 new
varieties of previously recorded species, viz., Pachychaliiia
muUiformis and Ciocalypta tyleri.

TETE ACTINELLID A .
Tetilla hirsuta, n. sp. Tuticorin. Colour not recorded.

MONAXONIDA.

Halichondria panicea, Johnston, var. Ram^svaram. Light pink.

Variety of the British species.
Petrosia testudinaria, Lamarck, sp. Tiiticorin pearl banks. Pink,
cup-shaped.

' Challenger Report on Monaxonida.

* A single small specimen of Spoiigia officinalis was collected by Dr.
Anderson in the Mergui Archipelago.

71

Reniera madrepora, n. sp. Tuticorin. Colour not recorded.
Pach.ychalina multiformis, Lendenfeld. sp. (var. manaarftnsis nov.)

Tuticorin. Pale violet, or light pink.

,, delicatula, n. sp. Tuticorin. Colour not recorded.

,, spinilamella, n. sp. Tuticorin. Pale yellow.

Siphonochalina communis, Carter, sp. Tuticorin. Bluish brown.

Gt'lliodes carnosa, n. sp. Tuticorin. Gi-ey.

lotrochota baculifera, Ridley (var. flabellata, Bendy). Ram6s-

varam and Tuticorin. Dark purple.
Tedania digitata, Schmidt, sp. Ramesvaram. Ped.
Clathria indica, n. sp. Tuticorin. Frequently incrusting pearl
oyster. Bright red.
,, corallitincta, n. sp. Tuticorin. Coral-red.
Phaphidophlus spiculosus, n. sp. Tuticorin. Vermilion.
Hymeniacidon ? faetida, n. sp. Tuticorin. Grey ; smells like vale-
rian when dry.
Phakellia ridleyi, n. sp. Ramesvaram. Red.
Ciocalypta tyleri, Bowerhank (var. manaarensis nov.). Tuti-
corin. White.
Acanthella carteri, n. sp. Tuticorin. Orange.
Aulbtta aurantiaea, n. sp. Tuticorin. Orange-red.
Axinella donnani, Bowerhanh. Ramesvaram, and Tuticorin pearl
banks. Orange.
,, labyrinthica, n. sp. Tuticorin. Orange.
,, tubulata, sp. Boioerhank. Ramesvaram, and Tuticorin
pearl banks. Inhabited by commensal tubi-
colous Oligochoete worms. Pinkish-red or red.
Raspailia fruticosa,. n. sp. Ramesvaram. Pink.

,, thurstoni, n. sp. Ramesvaram. Dry shore-specimens.
Suberites inconstans, n. sp. Between tide-marks, Pamban.
,, a var. mseandrina. Brown. Canal system of var.

moeandrina inhabited by Ophiu-
roids.
„ P var. digitata.
,, y var. globosa.

CERATOSA.

Spongionella nigra, n. sp. Tuticorin. Black.
Hipjiospongia, sp. Ramesvaram.

Hircinia clathrata, Carter. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin. Canal
system occupied by a cirrhiped crustacean,
Balanus (Acasta) spongites.
,, vaUata, n. sp. Ramesvaram.
Aplysina purpurea, Carter. Tuticorin. Grey (in spirit, or when
dry") dark purple.
,, fusca, Carter. Tuticorin,

72

C^LENTERATA.

OCTACTINIA.

Alcyonium digitulatum, Klun%. Eam^svaram.
,, gyrosum, Kliinz. Eamesvaram.

,, polydactylum, Ehr. (var. mamillifera, Kliinz).
Eamesvaram.
Sarcophytum pauciflorum, Ehr.

Echinogorgia pseudosasappo, K'dll. Eamesvaram ; also from

the Madras Harbour ; studded, as
figured by Esper, with Aviculse
and Ophiuroids.
,, sasappo, Koll {Esper, sp.). Eam^svaram.

,, cerea, K'dll. Kamesvaram ; also from the Madras

Harbour.
,, furfuracea, Koll {Esper, sp.). Ramesvaram ;

also from the Madras Harbour.
Plexaura flabellum, Esper. Horny axes cast on shore at Eames-

varam and Tuticorin.
Juncella juncea, Pallas. Eamesvaram and Tuticorin (near shore

and on pearl banks).
Gorgonia (Leptogorgia) miniacea, ilf. -£(?«<?. {Esper, sp.). Ram^s-

varam and Tuticorin.
Gorgonella umbella, Esper. Tuticorin.

Suberogorgia suberosa, Pallas. E-am^svaram and Tuticorin.
Corallium nobile, Pallas. Ramesvaram.
Pteroides javanicum, Bleeker. Ram^svaram.

,, esperi, Herklots. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Virgularia juncea, Esper. Ramesvaram.
Lituaria, sp, Ramesvaram.

Some of the Alcyonia formed large, flat, encrusting
masses. Entwining theij* arms round the stems and branches
of Juncella juncea, Suberogorgia suberosa, etc., were delicate
Ophiuroids {Ophiothix, etc.), and, clinging to the Gorgonise
were the Crinoids, Antedon reynaudi, Antedon palmata, and
Actinometra parvicirra. Living on the stems of the red-
coloured Gorgonise I several times found the mollusc Radius
Jormosus, the colour of whose shell corresponded with that of
the Gorgonise.

A specimen of Suberogorgia suberosa, obtained at Mauri-
tius in 90 fathoms, is described by Ridley (Ann. Mag. Nat.
Hist., 1882, p. 132) as "an immense dry specimen 3 feet 5
inches high, and 18 inches in maximum lateral diameter.
The colour is pale wainscot to pale rufous-brown ; the
branches are given off mostly at angles of 30°. The colour,

73

very different from the deep brick-red usual in this species,
may perhaps be due to the manner of drying." The height
of a 8j)ecimen in the Madi-as Museum from Tuticorin, where
the pale and brick-red varieties were living side by side, is
4 feet 8 inches, and the maximum diameter 2 feet 2 inches.

The specimens of Gorgonia miniacea were characterised
by the almost constant presence, on the stems or at their
bifurcation, of diseased excrescences — the so-called galls —
occupied by a Cirrhiped crustacean, and perforated by an
orifice, through which currents of water for the respiration
of the crustacean were admitted into the cavity of the ex-
crescence, through which the stream passed in a constant
direction. The association of similar excrescences on stony
corals of the genera Sidcrojiora. Seriatoijora, and Pocillopora^
is discussed in detail by Semper.^

Several fragments of Corallum nobile, the red coral of
commerce, have been picked up by me on the Pamban beach,
and the native divers tell me that they occasionally come
across much larger pieces. Concerning this species Ridley
says ^ : —

"Dr. Lankester (Uses of Animals to Man), besides the
Persian Grulf, gives Cej^lon as a locality for this, the precious
red coral of the Mediterranean and Cape Verd Islands, and Dr.
Ondaatje has shown me decorticated specimens from Ceylon,
which make the identity of the species probable. It is note-
worthy that a fossil form is recorded from Indian deposits
(Duncan), which as I have given reasons for thinking (Proc.
Zool. Soc, 1882, p. 334) seems probably identified with this
species, Seguenza having found it fossil in India, still bearing
a slight red tint. ' An officer,' in a work entitled ' Ceylon '
(London, 8vo., 1876) mentions small fragments of red coral
similar to that of the Mediterranean as having been found at
the water's edge between Galle and Colombo, and states it to
have been referred to by the Portuguese."

It must be borne in mind, however, that the red coral
of commerce is imported to the East in large quantities to be
worked up into ornaments for natives ; and it is possible
that the small fragments, picked up from time to time on
the beach, may be only adventitious products, and not a
natural product of the neighbouring sea.

' "Animal Life." Internal. Scicrice Ser., vol. XXXI.
2 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. XI, 1883.

K

74

The sea-pen Virgularia juncea was collected at low water,
and accords in its habits with another species, V. patagomca,
which is described by Darwin ^ as being seen projecting like
stubble, with the truncate end upwards, a few inches above
the surface of the muddy sand. When touched or pulled,
they suddenly drew themselves in with force, so as nearly
or quite to disappear.

HEXACTINIA.

ACTINIARIA.

Various undetermined species of Sea- anemone are found,
either burrowing in the sandy shore between tide-marks,
attached to, or living within cavities excavated in coral blocks.
A single specimen of Palythoa tuherculosa, recorded by Esper
from Tranquebar on the East Coast of the Madras Presi-
dency, was brought up by the divers at Pdmban, encrusting
the upper surface of a dead coral. Various species of Zoan-
thus, single or colonial, live among the corals on the reefs.
At both Tuticorin and Pdmban I have several times seen
specimens of Sphenopus marsiipialis, which was collected
originally by Johns, a Moravian Missionary, at Tranquebar,
and was cast on shore at Madras in large numbers during
the cyclone of 1886. The outer surface of this species is
made up of sand grains glued together by a viscid secretion,
and imbedded in a cartilaginous case. Specimens figured in
the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Feb. 14, 1867,
were collected at Pulo Faya in the China seas.

Madreporaria.

(Stony Corals.)

Madrepora cervicornis, Lamk.
,, cytharea, Dana.

,, spicifera, Dana.

Montipora digitata, Dana.
,, foliosa, Pallas.

,, irregularis, Quelch.

,, tuberosa, Kliinz.

Porites lutea, ( Q. and Gaim), M. Edw. and H.

„ solida, ForskaL
Turbinaria cinerascens, Solander, sp.
,, crater.

,, patula, Dana.

' Journal of Researches,

75

Caenopgamniia ehrenbergiana, M. Edw. and H.
Pocillopora damicornis, Esper.

,, hemprichii, Ehr.

,, favosa, Ehr.

,, verrucosa, Ell. Sol.

Galaxea bougainvillei, M. Edw. and If.

,, irregularis, M. Edw. and IT.
Mussa radians.
Leptoria tenuis, Dana.
Ceeloria arabica, Elilnz.

,, ,, var. subdentata.

Hydnophora conicolobata, M. Edw. and U.

,, lobata, Lamk.

„ niicroconus, Lamk.

Favia ebrenbergi, Klilnz, var.
,, asp era, M. Edw. and II.
Goniastrtea (undetermined species).
Prionastrsea (undetermined species).
Cyphastroea savignii, M. Edw. and H.
Echinopora lamellosa, Esper.
Fungia, sp., juv.
Cycloseris cyclolites, Lamk.
Heteropsammia coctilea, Spengler.
Pavonia, sp.
Psanamocora acerosa, Brugemann.

The majority of these stony corals belong to the class of
* reef corals,' but a few species are included, e.g., Cycloseris
cyclolites and Heteropsammia cochlea, which were dredged in
deep water, where the reef-builders were absent, and the
young Fangice, which were dredged from the muddy bottom
of the Pdmban Pass. All the specimens of H. cochlea exhi-
bited a hole bored by a sipunculid worm {Asjyidosiphon)^
which is always found living within this coral. It is diffi-
cult, as Semper points out,^ to understand what advantage
each animal can derive from their association ; yet some
must exist, for a coral is never found without a worm.

The fact is drawn attention to by Dr. Martin-Duncan, in
his report ^ on the Madreporaria of the Mergui Archipelago
collected by Dr. Anderson, as being very remarkable that
"the Coral-fauna of Ceylon, so far as it is known from
Mr. Stuart 0. Eidley's researches,' does not contain a single
Mergui species. The number of genera common to the two
areas is, however, great, and many species are closely allied."

1 " Animal Life." Internat. Science Set:, 1881.
* Journ. Linn. Soc, Nov. 13, 1886.
s Ann. Mag. Nat. Sist., 1883.

76

A comparison of the list of species recorded above from the
Indian side of the Gulf of Manaar with those of Dr. Duncan
and Mr. Ridley shows, as might be expected, that some of
the species are common to the Indian coast of the Q-ulf of
Manaar and Ceylon, and others to the Indian coast of the
G-ulf of Manaar and the Mergui Archipelago.

The type specimens of MonHpora irregularis, of which
species I obtained several specimens from the Pdmban reef,
were obtained during the voyage of the Challenger at Sam-
boangan, Philippines.

I have found no representative of the Hydrocorallinse on
the coral reefs, but Millepora dichotoma has been recorded
by Ridley ^ from Ceylon.

The genus Heliopora is apparently not represented on the
living reef, but a single specimen of Heliopora edwardsana
has been described from the cretaceous deposits of the Trichi-
nopoly District of the Madras Presidency, concerning the
coral-beds of which Stoliczka writes ^ : —

" The conditions of the deposits were not so quiet that we
could expect to find any of the Alcyouaria or of the Malaco-
dermata preserved, but the Sclerodermata or Madreporaria are
represented by fifty-seven species, namely, fifty-three belonging
to the Aporosa, three to the Perforata, and one to the Tabidata

Looking at the whole fauna we see the reef -building

Astraidce, StyWiidce, and Thamnastr<zid(B much exceeding the
other famiHes in numbers of species, as v/ell as in frequency of
occurrence of specimens. Coral reefs appear to have been of
considerable extent, pai-ticularly along the old shores within the
Ootatoor group ; in the two other groups they were much more
loc^al."

The method employed by me for the preservation of oorala
(^.e.J the skeletons) which I reserve for exhibition, is to
expose them to the action of the sun and ants, which remove
a large amount of the animal matter, and send them in
boxes, surrounded by paper and tightly packed in rice -husk,
by native sailing boat to Madras. But, however great the
care which is taken, it generally happens that some of the
corals become covered with mould during the voyage. The
rice-husk, which is usually found clinging to the sm-face of
the corals, is removed with a syringe, and the corals, after
being submitted to repeated washings with fresh-water, are

1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. 5, vol. XI, 1883.
* Talteont Ind, Ci ttaceous Fauna of Southern India^

77

finally dried in the sun. In no ease are they submitted to
the action of corrosive alkali solutions. It has been objected,
with regard to the preservation of corals by exposing them
for sometime to the action of rain or running water, that the
finest details of the skeleton are liable to be dissolved away
to some extent by the action of the carbonic acid in the
water. But I found, on my visit to Rdmesvaram Island
in 1889, that the structural details of various delicate corals
(Asfrceopora, CypJiastrcea, etc.), which I had left discarded on
the sand in the " compound " of the bungalow twelve months
previously, were, to no appreciable extent, damaged for
purposes of identification, though they had, in the interval,
been freely exposed to the action of a heavy monsoon and a
cyclone.

ECHINODEEMATA.

A report on a collection of Echinoderms, which I made in
the years 1886-87 at Hdmesvaram island and Tuticorin, by
Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, has been published in the Proceedings
of the Zoological Society, June 19, 1888, wherein the writer
states that " I may be allowed to remind the student of the
recent appearance of a memoir on the Echinoderm-fauna
of the island of Ceylon.^ Shortly after the distribution of
that memoir my respected correspondent, M. de Loriol, was
kind enough to wi'ite and tell me of four other species of
Echinoids, all of which had been collected at Aripo by
M. Alois Humbert." Of these four species (Phyllacanthus
anmdifera, Tetnnopleiinis reynaudi, Olypeader humilis, and
Laganum depressiim) C. hmnilis and L. depressum have been
found by me off the Indian coast of the Gulf of Manaar,

Only two new species have been discovered among my
collections, viz., an Ophiuroid, Pectinura intermedia, and an
Asteroid, Oreaster {Pentaceros) thurstoni, of which the latter
is a very common shallow- water species very variable both •
in its characters and colour. Since the publication of Prof.
Bell's Report several species, not recorded there, have been
found in my subsequent visits to the Gulf of Manaar, bring-
ing the total number up to fifty-eight.

The majority of the specimens were found in shallow-
water near the shore, but some, e.g., Oreaster {Pentaceros)
Uncki, Linckia Icevigata, Colochirns quadrangularis, and Astro-
phyton, sp. (of which a single imperfect specimen was found

' Scientific Transaction* qf the Moyal Dublin Society (2), III, p. 643 et seq.

78

within the cup of a Turhinaria) were brought up by divers
from the pearlbanks in ten to eleven fathoms.

Of the six species of Echinoid which are described by
Agassiz, in his ' Revision of the Echini ' as being character-
istic of his Indo-African Region, which includes the Madras
coast, five, viz., Echinodiscus aurifus and biforis, Salmacis
sulcata and bicolor, and Echinolampus oinformis, are very
abundant in the Gulf of Manaar. But I have not as yet
found the sixth species, Echinodiscus Icevis.

The fossil Echinodermata, as recorded in the ' Palaeonto-
logia indioa' from the cretaceous deposits in South India,
are represented by two or three species of Crinoidea {Penta-
crinus and Marsupifes), a single species of Asteroidea (Ophiura ?
cunliffei), and thirty-eight species of Echinojdea, of which
the genera Cidaris and Hemiaster are most largely repre-
sented.

CRINOIDEA.

Antedon palmata, Mull. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin. In cre-
vices of coral or on Gorgonice.
,, reynaudi, Miill. Ramesvaram. On stems of Gorgonice.
Actinometra parvicirra, Mull. Tuticorin. On stems of Gorgonim,

ASTEROIDEA.

Echinaster purpureus (G^my), Bell. Tuticorin.
Linckia loevigata,' Gmelin.^ Pearl banks.
Anthenea acuta, Perrier. Ramesvaram.

,, pentagonula {Lamk.), Perrier. Ramesvaram.
Goniodiscus granuliferus ( Gray), Perrier. Ramesvaram.
Stellaster, sp. ? Pearl banks.
Oreaster lincki, de Blr Pearl banks.
,, superbus, Mijbitis.^ Tuticorin.

,, thurstoni, n. sp. Bell.*' Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Asterina cepheus (i¥. Tr.), Von. Mart. Ramesvaram.
Luidia hardwickii (Gray), Perrier. Ramesvaram.
,, maculata, M. Tr. Ramesvaram.
,, ,, sp.? Ramesvaram.

Astropecten hemprichii, M. Tr. Ramesvaram. A specimen in
the Madras Museum has swallowed a
mollusc, Cerithium sp.

* L. miliaris (Linck), VonMartens, and L. Iceviffata, Liitken. Vide Chal-
lenger Report, Asteroidea.

* Pvntaceros muricatus, Linck. Challenger Report.

3 Pentaceros superbus, Mijbius, sp. Challenger Report.

* Fentaceros thurstoni, Bell, sp. Challenger Report.

79

Aetropecten polyacanthus, M. Tr. Eam6svaram.
" >> sp., juv. Edinesvaram.

OPHUIEOIDEA.

I am indebted to Professor Jeffrey Bell for the identifica-
tion of the following additional Bchinoderms, collected by me
at Tutioorin during the pearl fishery of 1889 : —

CRINOIDEA.

Antedon cumingi.

ASTEROIDEA.

Asterodiscus elegans, Gray,
Pentaceros, n. sp. ?

OPHIUKOIDEA.

Peotinura infernalis, Lth.
Ophionereis dubia, Lym.

EOHINOIDEA.

Toxopneustes pileolus, Ag.
Pseudoboletia maculata.
Phyllacanthus baculosa, A, Ay,

Lovenia elongata, And. Eamesvaram.

HOLOTHUEOIDEA.

Cucumaria semperi, Bell. Eamesvaram.
Colochirus quadrangularis, Less. Pearl banks.
Actinocucumis difficilis, Bell. Eamesvaram.

onnTinf fiL ^^T ^""i* **" ^^^^ ^ specimen was sent, reports that he

cannot tind any real difference between it and Muller's type of Ovhiothrix
aspidota, with which he compared it. ^pmotmtx

78

within the cup of a Turhinaria) were brought up by divers
from the pearlbanks in ten to eleven fathoms.

Of the six species of Echinoid which are described by
Aarassiz. in his ' Hevision of the Enhini * as bpiincr o.Vin.rnotor-

,, maculata, M. Tr. Ramesvaram.
,, ,, sp.? Ramesvaram.

Astropecten hemprichii, M. Tr. Ramesvaram. A specimen in
the Madras Museum has swallowed a
mollusc, Cerithium sp.

' L. miliaris (Linck), VonMartens, and L. Imvigata, Liitken. Vide Chal-
lenger Report, Asteroidea.

^ Pentaceros nmricatus, Linck. Challenger Report.
^ Pentaceros superbtis, Miibius, sp. Challenger Report.
* Pentaceros thurstoni, Bell, sp. Challenger Report.

79

Astropecten polyacanthus, M. Tr. Ram^svaram.
,, ,, sp., juv. Ramesvaram.

OPHUIROIDEA.

Pectinura gorgonia, M. Tr. Ramesvaram.

,, intermedia, n. sp., Bell. Ramesvaram.

Ophiactis savignii, Atidouin. Ramesvaram. In canal system

of a sponge, Suherites inconstans.
Ophiocoma erinaceus, M. Tr. Ramesvaram.
Ophiotlirix longipeda, M. Tr. Ramesvaram.
,, nereidina, M. Tr. Ramesvaram.

,, aspidota,' M. Tr. Ramesvaram.

OphioiTiaza cacaotica, Lyman. Ramesvaram.
Hemieuryalid. Ramesvaram. Arms entwined round branches

of (Suberogorgia suberosa.
Astrophyton clavatum, Lyman ? Pearl banks.

ECHINOIDEA.

Temnopleurus toreumaticus, Leshe. Ramesvaram.

Temnopleuroid .

Salmaeis bicolor, Ag. Pearl banks.

,, dussumieri, Ag. Ramesvaram. Common in fishing-
nets at Madras.

,, sulcata, Ag. Tuticoriu.
Stomopneustes variolaris, Lamk. Ramesvaram.
Eohinometra lucunter, Leshe. Tuticorin.
Fibiilaria volva, Ag. Ramesvaram.
Clypeaster humilis, Leske. Pearl banks.
Laganum decagonale, Less. Ramesvaram.

,, depressum, Less. Ramesvaram.

Echinodiscus biforis, Ag. Tuticorin.

,, auritus, Leske. Ramesvaram.

Ecbinolampas oviformis, Gmelin. Ramesvaram.
Rhinobrissus pyramidalis, A. Ag. Ramesvaram.
Brissus unicolor, Leske. Ramesvaram.
Metalia sternalis, Lamk. Tuticorin.
Lovenia elongata, And. Ramesvaram.

HOLOTHUROIDEA.

Cucumaria semperi, Bell. Ramesvaram.
Colochirus quadrangiilaris, Less. Pearl banks.
Actinocucumis difficilis, Bell. Ramesvaram.

' Prof. E. V. Martens, to whom a specimen was sent, reports that he
cannot find any real difference between it and Miiller's type of Ophiothrix
aspidota, with which he compared it.

80

Haplodactyla australis, Semper. Tuticorin.
Holothuria atra, Jdger. Ramesvaram.

,, niarmorata, Jdger. Ramesvaram. Edible Trepang.

,, monacaria, Less. Ramesvaram.

,, vagabunda, Selenka. Tuticorin.

Synapta recta, Semper f Ramesvaram.

Thyone sacella, Selenka. Ramesvaram. A specimen in the
Madras Museum shows the tentacles, teeth,
etc., which were ejected during life.

CEUSTACEA.

(Decapoda and Stomatopoda.)

As regards the Crustacea (Decapoda and Stomatopoda)
Mr. J. E,. Henderson writes to me :

*' This collection is one of the most important which has
ever been formed on the Indian coast. It contains over a
hundred and twenty species, not more than ten or twelve of
which are new to science ; but a number of rare or little-known
forms are present, and the geographical distribution of most of
these has been greatly extended by their discovery on the South
Indian shores. Upwards of three hundred species of Decapod
and Stomatopod Crustacea have been recorded from the Bay of
Bengal, which may be conveniently held to include the coasts
from Ceylon on the one side to Singaj ore on the other, along
with the numerous groups of islands situated within this area.
Yet, with the exception of a small collection from Madras report
on by Prof. Heller in the Crustacea of the ' Reise der Novara,'
our knowledge of the species which inhabit the Indian coast
proper is limited to a few scattered papers, and to those forms
recorded by the older writers under the somewhat vague localisa-
tion ' Indian Seas.'

" The Crustacean fauna of the Culf of Manaar shows, as
might be expected, a considerable proportion of coral reef
species — widely distributed forms, which occur in suitable loca-
lities throughout the vast In do-Pacific region. The following
list does not include the new species, or a few which are still
unidentified. Those new to the Bay of Bengal (as defined
above) are marked with an asterisk."

DECAPODA.

Brachytjra.

Oxyrhyncha.

Doclea hybrida (Fabr.).
Hyastenus hilgendorfi, DeMan.

81

* Stenocionops eervicornis {Herhst).

* Hueiiia proteus, DeHaan.

* Mensethius monoceros (Latr.).

* Zebrida adamsii, mute.

* Tylocarcinus styx {Serbst).

* Micippe philvra {Herbst).

* ,, thalia {Herbst).

* Lambrus affinis, A. If. Edw.

,, longispinus, Miers.

,, holdswortki, Miers.

* Paratymolus sexspinosus, Miers.

Cyclometopa.

Atergatis integerrimns {Lam.).
,, floridus {Humph.).

* Carpilodes margaritatus, A. M. Edw.

* Lophactsea gramdosa {Riippell).

* Acteea nodulosa ( White).

,, ruppellii {Jirauss).

* ,, granulata {And.).

* Euxanthus melis^a {Herbst).

* Xantho punctatus, M. Edw.

* Lophozozymus dodone {Herbst).

* Cycloxantlius lineatus, A. M. Edw.
Chlorodius niger {For shall).

* Phyinodius monticulosua {Dana).
Leptodius exaratiis {M. Edw.)
Etisus Ifevimanus {Randall).

* Etisodes scidptilis, Heller.
Cymo andreossyi {And.).
Meuippe rumphii {Fahr).
Pilumnus vespertilio {Fahr.).

* ,, longicornis, Hil(/.
Eripbia Irevimana, Guerin.
Trapezia rufopunctata {Herbst).

,, cymodoce {Herbst).
,, areolata, Dana.

* Tetralia nigrifrons, Dana.
Neptunus pelagicus {Linn.).

,, sanguinolentus {Herbst).

,, gladiator {Fair.).

Scylla serrata {Forskal).
Thalamita prymna {Herbst).

,, admete {Herbst).

,, savignyi, A. M. Edw.

Goniosoma natator {Herbst).

,, annulatum {Fahr.).

* ,, callianassa {Herbst).

82

Goniosoina crucif erum {Fair.).

* ,, orientale {Dana).

,, inerguiense, DeMan.

* Lisaoearcinus Isevis, Miers.

Catometopa.

Telphusa corrugata, Heller.
Cardisoma carnifex {Herbst).
Ocypoda ceratophthalma {Pallas).

,, cordimana, Desm.

,f platytarsis, J/. JSdw.

,, macrocera, M. Edw.
Gelasimus annulipes, Latr.

* Xenophthalmus pinnotheroides, White.
Metopograpsus messor {Forskal),
Qrapsus strigosus {Herhst).

,, m.SLC'ola.tuB {Cafesby).
Leiolophus planissimus {Herbst).
Sesarma quadrata {Fabr.).

Oxystomata.

Calappa hepatica {Linn.).

,, gallus {Serbst),
Matuta victrix {Fabr.).

,, lunaris {Herbst).

,, miersii, Henderson.
Leucosia craniolaris {Linn.).
Philyra scabriuscula {Fabr.).

,, globosa {Fabr.).

* Myra fugax {Fabr.).
Dorippe fachino {Herbst).

,, quadridentata {Fabr.).

Anomuba

Dromidia unidentata {Eiippell).
Hippa asiatica, M. Edw.
Albunea symnista {Fabr.).
Diogenes miles {Fabr.).
,, custos {Fabr.).

* ,, diaphanus {Fabr.).
„ avarus, Heller.

Pagurus punctulatus, Olivier.

„ deformis, M. Edw.
Clibanarius padavensis, DeMan

* Aniculus typicus, Dana.
Ccenobita rugosa, M. Edw.
Petrolisthes boscii (Aud.).

83

Petrolisthes dentatus (M. Edw.).

* Porcellanella triloba, White.
Polyonyx obesulus ( White),
Galathea elegans, White.

Macrura.

Palinurus dasypus, Latr.
Oebiopsis iatermedia, DeMan.
Alpheus edwardsii (Aud.).

,, Isevis, Handbill.

„ comatulorum, HaswelL

* Betaeus frontalis, M. Edw.

* Pontonia tridacnse, Dana.

STOMATOPODA.

* LysiosquiUa maeulata (Fair.).
SquiUa scorpio, Latr.

,, nepa, Latr.

* Pseudosquilla ciliata (Fabr.).
Gonodactylus graphurus, White.

* „ trispinosus, White.

MOLLUSCA.

The following list of Marine mollusca, which I have
collected in the Grulf of Manaar, includes (1) those which
were collected on the beach, all shells which were worn and
bore evidence of having been rolled in from a distance being
rejected, and only those which appeared to be fresh being
retained ; (2) those which were obtained by dredging, and
straining the contents of the dredge through sieves ; (3) those
which were collected on the coral reefs on clear days or at
low tide ; (4) those which were brought up from the pearl
banks and other places by native divers ; (5) those which
were obtained by examining the sweepings from the kottus
during the pearl fishery; (6) those which were found
attached to Algce and Gorgonice, or obtained by breaking up
coral blocks with a crowbar, and extracting the shells which
were buried in holes bored by the animals during life.

CEPHALOPODA.

Spirula peronii, Lmk. Ram^svaram.
Nautilus pompilius, Linn. Ramesvaram,

84

PTEROPODA.
Styliola acicula. Pelagic over Pdmban reef.

HETEROPODA.

lanthina africana, Reeve. Very abundant, coincidently with
Fhysalia, on the surface, one evening at Kilakarai.

GASTEROPODA.

Murex anguliferus, Lmk. Tuticorin.

,, haustellum, Linn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.

,, tenuispina, Lmk. Tuticorin.

,, (Ocinebra) sp. Rainesvaram.
Pleurotoma tigrina, Lmh. Ramesvaram.

,, (Surcula) javana, deJBoiss. Ramesvaram.

,, (Drillia) inconstans, Smith. Ramesvaram.

Fusus colus, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, tuberculatus, Lmh. Rainesvaram.
Cythara pallida, Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Tritonidea undosa, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Triton chlorostoraus, Lmk. Ramesvaram.

,, ciugulatus, Pfeiff. Tuticorin.

,, retusus, Lmk. Tuticorin.

,, (Persona) cancellinus, deBoiss. Tuticorin.
Ranella foliata, Brod. Tuticorin.
Ranella granifera, Lmk. Ramesvaram.
Buccinum (Cantharus) melanostoma, Sow. Tuticorin.
Cyllene, sp. Ramesvaram.
Nassa callospira, Ramesvaram.

,, ornata, Kien. Ramesvaram.

,, suturalis, Lmk. Ramesvaram.

,, sp. juv. Ramesvaram.

,, (Arcularia) bimaculosa, A. Ad. Rdm^svaram.

,, (Niotba) albescens, Dunk. Ramesvaram.

,, ,, australia, A. Ad. Ramesvaram.

Eburna spirata, Lmk. Ramesvaram.

,, zeylanica, Lmk. Ramesvaram.
Purpura rudolphi, Lmk. Ramesvaram.
Oliva Candida, Lmk. Ramesvaram.

,, gibbosa, Born. Ramesvaram.

,, ispidula, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Ancillaria, sp. Ramesvaram.

,, (Sparella) cinnamonea, Lmk. Tuticorin.

,, ,, ampla, Gmel. Tuticorin.

Fasciolaria filamentosa, Chemn. Ramesvaram.
Tudicla spirillus, Lmk. Ramesvaram.
Turbinella cornigera, Lmk. Tuticorin.
,, pyrum, Lmk. Tuticorin.

85

Turbinella rapa, Lmh. Tuticorin. The chank.
Voluta interpuncta, Martyn. Tuticorin.
Cymbium indicum, Gmel. Eamesvaram.
Marginella angustata, Sow. Eamesvaram and Tuticorin^
,, dens, juv. Reeve. Tuticorin.

,, n. sp. ? Eamesvaram.

Zafra atrata, Gould. Eamesvaram.
Engina zonata, Reeve. Eamesvaram.

,, sp. juv. Eamesvaram.
Harpa ventricosa, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
Cassis areola, Lmk. Eamesvaram.

,, canaliculata, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
,, (Bezoardica) glauca, Brug. Eamesvaram.
Dolium olearium, Linn. Eamesvaram.
,, fasciatum, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
,, maculatum, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
Ficula reticulata, Lmlc. Eamesvaram.
Pyrula (Melongena) vespertilio, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
Natica maroccana, Chenin. Eamesvaram.
,, pulicaria, Phil. Tuticorin.
„ sp. juv. Tuticorin.

,, (Mamilla) melanostoma, Lmk. Tuticorin.
,, (Neverita) didyma, Bolt. Eamesvaram.
,, (Polinices) mamilla, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
Sigaretus neritoideus, Linn. Eamesvaram.
Naticina, sp. juv. Eamesvaram.
Scalaria aculeata, juv. Sow. Eamesvaram.
,, decussata, Pease. Eamesvaram.
,, sp. Eamesvaram.
Terebra myuros, Lmk. Eamesvaram.

,, n. sp. ? Eamesvaram.
Eingicula doliaris ? Gould. Tuticorin.

,, sp. Tuticorin.

Cbemnitzia, sp. Tuticorin.
Alaba rectangularis, Cramer.. Eamesvaram.
Solarium perspectivum, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
,, laevigatum, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
,, (Torinia) cfelata. Hinds. Eamesvaram.
,, ,, fulvum, Hinds. Eamesvaram.

Conus amadis, Martini. Eamesvaram.
,, figulinus, Linn. Tuticorin.
,, hebrseus, Linn. Eamesvaram.
,, marmoreus, Linn. Eamesvaram.
,, piperatus, Dillwyn. Eamesvaram.
,, striatus, Linn. Tuticorin.
,, textile, Linn. Tuticorin.
Strombus canarium, Linn. Eamesvaram and Tuticorin.
Pterocera aurantia, Lmk. Eamesvaram.
,, lambis, Linn. Eamesvaram.

86

Pterocera scorpius, Linn. E4m6svaram.

Oyprsea arabica, Zinn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.

,, ,, var. Tuticorin.

,, caput-serpentis, Linn. Tuticorin.

,, carneola, Linn. Tuticorin.

,, errones, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, liirundo, Gmel. Ramesvaram.

,, lynx, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, mauritiana, Linn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.

,, moneta, Linn. Ramesvaram. The money cowry.

,, ocellata, Linn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.

,, talpa, Linn. Tuticorin.

„ tigris, Linn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.

,, vitellus, Linn. Tuticorin.
Ovulum (Radius) birostre, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, ,, formosus, Ad. and Reeve. Ramesvaram.

Attached to branches of red Gorgonice.
Ovulum (Radius) volva, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Cerithium breviculum, Soto. Ramesvaram.
,, morus, Lmk. Ramesvaram.
,, (Tympanotomus) alatum, Phil. Ramesvaram.
,, „ fluviatile, Potiez. Ramesvaram.

Triforis cingulatus, Ad. Tuticorin.

„ corrugatus, Hinds. Ramesvaram.

,, ruber, Hinds. Rdmesvaram.
Pyrazus palustris, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Cerithidea, sp. Ramesvaram.
Melania coIListricta, Reeve. Tuticorin.
Littorina scabra, Linn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Rissoina planaxoides. Ramesvaram.
Turritella attenuata, Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Siliquaria encaustica, Morch. Rdmesvaram and Tuticorin.
Calyptra layardi, Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Galerus extinctorium, Sow. Ramesvaram.
Crepidula walshi, Hermanns. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Capulus, sp. Rdmesvaram.
Vanicora quoyiana, A. Ad. Rdmesvaram.
Nerita plicata, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, rumphii, Recluz. Ramesvaram.

,, squamulata, LeGuill. Ramesvaram.
Neritina, sp. Ramesvaram.
Clypeola, sp. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Phasianella lineolata, Wood. Ramesvaram.
Turbo (Senectus) margaritaceus, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, (Collonia, sp. Ramesvaram.
Liotia cidaris, Reeve. Ramesvaram.
RoteUa costata, Valenc. Ramesvaram.

,, vestiaria, 8ow. Tuticorin.
Delphinula distorta, Lml. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.

87

Trochus niloticus, Linn. Edmesvaram,

,, (Eutrochus), sp. Ramesvaram.

,, (Euclielus) atratus, Gmel. Ramesvaram.

,, (Clanculus) microdon. A. Ad. Ram6sYaram.

„ (Zizyphinus) tranquebaricus, Chemn. Ramesvaram.

,, (Monilea) solandri, Phil. Ramesvaram.

„ (Solariella), sp. Ramesvaram.

„ (Gibbula) variabilis, Ad. Tuticorin.
Haliotis semistriata, Reeve. Ramesvaram.

„ varia, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Fissurella singaporensis, Reeve. Tuticorin.

,, (Lucapina) quadriradiata, Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Marginula, sp. Ramesvaram.

Scutuni unguis, Linn. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Dentalium octogonum, Lmh. Tuticorin.
Scutellina asperulata, A. Ad. Ramesvaram.
Chiton, several species. Ramesvaram.
Solidula solidula, juv. Lmk. Ramesvaram.
Hydatina circulata, Martyn. Ramesvaram.
Bulla ampulla, Linn. Ramesvaram,
Haminea cymbalum, Quoy and Gaim. Ramesvaram.
Atys porcellana, juv. Gould. Rdmesvaram.
Lobiger viridis,^ G. and H. Nevill. Tuticorin.
Dolabella, sp. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Siphonaria, sp. Ramesvaram.

L AM ELLIBR ANCHIATA.

Dactylus oriental! s, Gmel. Ramesvaram.

Jouannetia globosdl, Quoy. Ramesvaram. From cavities bored

in coral.
Parapholas, sp. Ramesvaram. From cavities bored in wood.
G^uetra nucif era, Spengl. From cavities bored in wood.
Rocellaria gigantea, Deshay. Ramesvaram. From cavities in

coral.
Brechites, sp. Tuticorin.
Solen adspersus, juv. Dunk. Rdmesvaram

,, corneus, Lmk. Tuticorin.

,, linearis, juv ? Chemn. Ramesvaram.
Siliqua radiata, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Corbula forfisulcata. Smith. Tuticorin.
,, modesta. Hinds. Ramesvaram.
,, sulculosa, H. Ad. Ramesvaram.
Theora fragilis, A. Ad. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Soletellina dipbos, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Tellina, sp. juv. Ramesvaram.

,, (Arcopagia) pristis, Lmk. Ramesvaram.

» Vide Ann. Mag., Nat. Hkt., 1889.

88

Doslnia, sp. juv. Raiuesvaram.
Donax cuneata, Linn. Tuticorin.

,, faba, Chemn. Ramesvaram.

,, scortum, Linn. Ramesvaram.

Semele exarata, Ad. and Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Paphia trigona, Deshay. Tuticorin.
Ervillia, sp. Ramesvaram.
Venus lamarckii, Gray. Ramesvaram.

,, lamellaris, Schumach. Ramesvaram.

,, reticulata, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, (Sunetta) meroe, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, ,, scripta, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, ,, truucata, Deshay. Ramesvaram.

,, (Chione) layardi, Sow. Ramesvaram.

,, ,, sea bra, Hanley. Ramesvaram.

Cytherea (Callista) erycina, Linn. Ramesvaram.
,, (Circe) pei'sonata, Deshay. Ramesvaram.

,, (Meretrix) casta, Hanley. Ramesvaram.

Tapes adspersa, Chemn. Ramesvaram.

,, litterata, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, rotundata, Linn. Ramesvaram.

,, textrix, Chemn. Ramesvaram.

,, undulata. Born. Tuticorin.

,, malabarica, Chemn. Tuticorin.

Venerupis macropliylla, Deshay. Ramesvaram. From cavities

bored in coral.
Petricola lapicidum, Chemn. Ramesvaram. From cavities

bored in coral.
Cardium asiaticum, Brug. Tuticorin.
,, rugosum, Lmk. Tuticorin.
,, rubicundum, Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Laevicardium australe, Sow. Ramesvaram.
,, retusum, Linn. Ramesvaram.

Lunulicardia subretusa. Sow. Ramesvaram.
Lucina (Divaricella) cumingii, Ad. and Any Tuticorin.
Codakia fischeriana, Issel. Ramesvaram.

,, sp. Ramesvaram.
Cryptodon vesicula, Goukl. Tuticorin.
Diplodonta, sp. Ramesvaram.
Scintilla, sp. Ramesvaram.

Crassatella radiata. Sow. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Cardita antiquata, Reeve. Tuticorin.

,, canaliculata, juv. Reeve. Ramesvaram.
Modiolaria. Ramesvaram.
Modiola japonica, juv. Dunk. Ramesvaram.

,, tulipa, Lmk. Rdm^svaram.
Litbodomus stramineus, Dtmk. Tuticorin. From cavities
bored in coral.

89

JjithodomvLs teres, riiilipp. Ram^svaram and Tuticorin. From

cavities bored in coral.
Avicula fucata, Gould. Tuticorin. The pearl oyster.

,, iuquinata, Reeve. Eamesvaram. On the branches of
Gorgonicd.
Avicula radiata, Pease. Tuticorin. On the branches of Gor-

gonia.
Avicula vexiUura, Reeve. Ram^svaram and Tuticorin. Some-
times found in masses attached to the branches of hyroids.
Area scidptilis, Reeve. Eamesvaram. From cavities in coral.
,, virescens, Reeve. Ramesvaram. From cavities in coral.
,, (Anadara) granosa, Linn. Ramesvaram.
,, (Barbatia) lima, Reeve. Tuticorin. From cavities in
coral.
Area fusca,5rMy. Ramesvaram. From cavities in coral.

,, (Scapharca) sp. Tuticorin.
Mucula layardi, Ad. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Leda mauritiana, Soiv. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
Pecten crassicostatus, Soiv. Ramesvaram and Tuticorin.
,, tendineus. Tuticorin.
„ varius, Linn. Ramesvaram.
,, (Pallium) plica, Linn. Ramesvaram.
Spondylus, sp. Rdmesvaram.

Vulsella rugosa, Lvik. Ramesvaram. From cavity in coral.
Ostrsea, sp. Ramesvaram.

PISCES.

The following list comprises those species of fishes which
I have either recorded or preserved during my visits to
Tuticorin or Pdraban, which latter place I made my head-
quarters while exploring the coral reefs which fringe the
shores of Rdmesvaram and the neighbouring islands.
These visits have always been made during the months of
Jidy and August, so that my examination of the fish fauna
has been confined to a very limited period of the year, and
it will doubtless be foimd, on more extended research, to
vary according to the season or monsoon.

The most characteristic feature of the fauna, as con-
trasted with that of other parts of the coast of the Madras
Presidency, is the prevalence of the so-called " coral fishes " ^
{Chcetodon, Heniochus, Pseudoscarus, &g.), for the most
brightly coloured fishes which abound over the reefs and

1 Indicated by an asterisk.

M

90

feed either on the small delicate marine invertebrates which
swarm on the living corals, or, if their teeth are adapted for
the purpose, on the soft parts of mollusc, which they extract
by gnawing or boring holes into the hard substance of the
shell. As stated by Haeckel,^ an explanation of the bright
colouring of the fishes is found in the Darwinian principle,
that the less the predominant colouring of any creature
varies from that of its surroundings, the less likely it is to
be seen bj' its foes, the more easily it can steal upon its prey,
and the more it is fitted for the struggle for existence.

Conspicuous by their abundance were several species
belonging to the family Sclerodermi, including Balistes (file
or trigger fish), whose jaws are armed with sharp teeth, and
which are said to be injurious to the pearl fishery by preying
on the pearl oyster. Present, too, in great numbers, were
several species of the family Grymnodontes, Tetrodons
(globe or frog fishes), including the beautifully marked
little T. margaritatus and Diodons^ which have a bad repu-
tation among the natives as being very poisonous.

ELASMOBEANCHII.

(Sharks and Rays.)

FAMILY CAECHAEIID^.

Carcharias.' — Several young species commonly met with in the

fish markets.
Zygsena malleus. Tuticorin and Pamban. " Hammer-head."

FAMILY SCYLLIIDiE.

Stegostoma tigrinum. Tuticorin.
Chiloscyllium indicum. Tuticorin.

FAMILY PEISTID^.

(Saw-fishes.)

Pristis cuspidatus. A specimen 1 8 feet in length

brought on shore at Tuticorin
in 1887.

FAMILY RHINOBATID^.
Khinobatus granulatus. Tuticorin.

' A Visit to Ceylon, Eng. Transl., 1883.

' The synonymy of Day's Fishes of India and Supplement to the Fishes
cf India, 1888, is followed throxighout.

91

FAMILY TOEPEDINID^.
Narcine thulei. Pamban. Electrical Eay.

FAMILY TRYGONIDiE.

Trygon seplien. Tuticorin.

,, uarnak. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY MYLIOBATID^.
Myliobatis nieubofii. Pamban.

TELEOSTEI.

(Bony Fishes.)

FAMILY PEECID^. (Perches.)

Lates Calcarifer. Tuticorin and Pamban. The " cock up '*

or " nair."
Serranus boenack. Tuticorin.

,, diacanthus. Pamban.

,, hexagouatus. Pamban.

,, fasciatus. Pamban.

,, salmoides. Tuticorin.

,, tumilabris. Tuticorin.
Lutianus decussatus. Pamban.

,, erythropterus. Pamban.

,, fulviflainma. Pamban.

,, rivulatus. Tuticorin and Pamban.

,, roseus. Pamban. " Ped rock cod."
Therapon quadrilineatus. Pamban.

,, theraps. Pamban.

Pristipoma hasta. Pamban.
Diagramma crassispinum. Tuticorin and Pamban.

,, cuvieri. Pamban. See Day's Sup., p. 785.

,, griseum. Tuticorin and Pamban.

Scolopsis vosmeri. Tuticorin and Pamban.

* Apugon auritus. Tuticorin.

* ,, kalosoma. Pamban.

* ,, thurstoni. n. sp. Pamban. See Day's Sup., p. 784.
Cheilodipterus quinquelineatus. Pamban.

Gerres oyena. Pamban.

FAMILY SQUAMIPINNE8.

* Chsetodon auriga. Pamban.

* ,, coUaris. Pamban.

* ,, vagabundus. Pamban.

* Heniochus macrolepidotus. Pamban.

92

* Drepane punctata. Very plentiful in Pamban fish market

iu July 1888.
Scatophagus argus. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY MULLID.E (Red Mullets.)

Upeneoides tragula. Tuticorin and Pamban.
Upeneus indicus. Pamban.

FAMILY SPARID^ (See Breams.)

Letbrinus karwa. Tuticorin.

,, nebulosus. Pamban.

Chrysopbrys berda. Tuticorin. " Black rock cod."
Pimelepterus cinerascens. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY SCORP^NID^.

* Pterois miles. Pamban. " Plying dragon."

FAMILY TEUTHIDID^.

Teutbis marmorata. Tuticorin.

,, oramin. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY BEEYCID^.
Holocentrum rubrum. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY KURTIDiE.
Pempberis malabarica. Tuticorin.

FAMILY SCIiENID^.
Scisena maculata. Tuticorin.

FAMILY ACRONURIDiE (Surgeons.)

Acanthurus mata. Tuticorin and Pamban.
,, triostegus. Pamban.

,, velifer. Pamban.

FAMILY CARANGID^ (Horse-mackerels.)

Caranx gallus. Tuticorin and Pamban.
hippos. Tuticorin.
ire. Pamban.
rottleri. Tuticorin.
sausum. Tuticorin.
speciosus. Pamban.

Plate lY

Leptacephalus

93

Platax teira. Pamban.
Lactarius delicatulus. Pamban.
Equula edentula. Pamban.

FAMILY SCOMBRIDiB (Mackerels.)

Ecbeneis remora. Tuticorin. " The Remora."
,, naucrates. Tuticorin.

FAMILY TEACHINIDiE.

Sillago sihama. Tuticorin. " Whiting."

FAMILY GOBIIDiB (Gobies.)

Gobius bynoensis. Tuticoi'in.
Gobiodon citrinus. Tuticorin.
Pei'iopbtlialmus koelkreuteri. Pamban.
Boleophthalmus boddaerti. Pamban.

FAMILY BLENNIIDiE.
Salarias marmoratus. Tuticorin.

FAMILY MUGILID^ (Grey Mullets.)

Mugil poicilus. Tuticorin.
,, cunnesius. Tuticorin.
„ speigleri. Pamban.

FAMILY CENTEISCIDiE.

Amphisile scutata. Pamban.

FAMILY POMACENTEID^.

* Qlyphidodon antjerius. Tuticorin

* ,, ceelestinus. Pamban.

* ,, notatus. Pamban.

* ,, sordidus. Pamban.

* Tetradracbmum aruanum. Tuticorin.

* Amphiprion sebse. Pamban.

FAMILY LABRID^ (Wrasses.)

Cheilinus cblorurus. Pamban.

* Platyglossus dussumieri. Pamban.

* Pseudoscarus chrysopoma. Tuticorin and Pamban.

* ,, rivulatus. Pamban.

94

FAMILY PLEUEONECTID^. (Flatfishes.)

Plagusia marmorata. Pamban.
Cynogiossus macrolepidotus. Pamban.

FAMILY SILUEID^.
Alius thalassinus. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY SCOPELID^.
Saurida tumbil. Pamban.

FAMILY SCOMBEESOCID.^.
Hemirampbus xanthoplerus. Pamban.

FAMILY CLUPEID^. (Herrings.)
Pellona leschenhaulti. Pamban.

FAMILY MURiENID^. (Eels.)

Muraena tessellata. Tuticorin and Pamban.
,, undulata. Tuticorin.

FAMILY SYNGNATHID^. (Pipefishes.)
Syngnathus serratus. Tuticorin and Pamban.

FAMILY SCLERODEEMI.

Balistes vetula. Tuticorin. " File fish."

,, mitis. Pamban. ,, ,,

Triacanthus strigilifer. Pamban.
Ostracion cornutus. Pamban. " Coffer fish."
,, nasus. Pamban. ,, ,,

„ turritus. Pamban ,, ,,

FAMILY GYMN0D0NTE8.

Tetrodon hispidus. Pamban.

* ,, margaritatus. Pamban.

* ,, immaculatus. Pamban.
Diodon hystrix. Pamban.

* ,, maculatus. Pamban. See Day's Suppt., p. 809.

95

Leptocephalus, sp. (PI. it.)

As regards the curious pellucid LeptocephaU, of which I
have obtained a few specimens in the Gulf of Manaar, and
a large number from the meshes of the fishermen's nets at
Gropalpur, where they are known as sea-leeches, Dr. Giin-
ther says : •

" We must come to the conclusion that these leptocepha-
tids are the offsprings of various kinds of marine fishes, repre-
senting, not a normal stage of development (larvse), but an
arrest of development at a very early period of their life ; they
continue to grow to a certain size without corresponding
development of their internal organs, and perish without having
obtained the characters of the perfect animal."

* Introduction to Study of Fishes, 1880, pp. 179-182.

VII -INSPECTION OF CEYLON
PEARL BANKS.

VIL-INSPECTION OF CEYLON
PEARL BANKS.

Having received permission from His Excellency Sir Arthur
Gordon, k.c.m.g., to accompany Captain Donnan, the In-
spector of the Oeylon Pearl Banks, on his annual inspection
cruise, I left Madras for Colombo by S.S. Rewa on the
3rd October 1889, taking with me some young plants of
Victoria regia., reared in the nursery of the Madras Agri-
Horticultural Society, for planting in the new Fort Gardens
at Colombo. Some seeds of the Victoria, which had been
sent from Madras earlier in the year, had germinated a
short time before my arrival, and the young plants looked
thoroughly healthy, so that it is to be hoped that the intro-
duction of the water-lily will be successful.

While in Colombo I took the opportunity of examining
the excellently preserved specimen of Rhinodon tt/jyicua in the
Ceylon Government Museum for the sake of comparison with
the specimen, more than 2U feet in length from the end of
the snout to the extremity of the tail, which was cast on shore
at Madras in February 1889, when I was unfortunately far
away from head-quarters, so that the chance was missed
of examining its stomach contents and internal anatomy.
As the following extract shows, but few specimens of this
monster Elasmobranch have been recorded ' : —

" For many years the sole evidence of its existence rested
upon a stray specimen, 15 feet in length, which was brought
ashore in Table Bay during the month of April 1 828, and for-
tunately fell into the hands of the late Sir Andrew Smith, then
resident in Capetown, who named, described, and figured it.
The specimen itself was preserve! by a French taxidermist, who
sold it to the Paris Museum, where it still remains in a much
deteriorated cjuditiou. Forty years later, in 1868, Dr. Percival
Wright, whilst staying at Mahe with Mr. Swinburne Ward, tlien
Civil Commissiouer of the Seychelles, met with this shark, and

' In his " Account of the Pearl Fisheries of Ceylon " Captain Steuart records
hiving seen on one occasion ' ' a spotted shark of a most fearful size ; it was
accompanied by several common sized sharks, and they appeared like pilot
fish by its side."

100

oT)tained the first authentic information about it. It does not
sesiu to be rare in this Archipelago, but is ver}'^ sehlom obtained
on ac( ount of its large size and the difficulties attending its
capture. Dr. Wright saw specimens which exceeded 60 feet
in length, and one that was actually measured by Mr. Ward
proved to be more than 45 feet long. Nothing more was heard
of the creature until January 1878, in which year the capture
of another specimen was rej orted from the Peruvian coast
ne.ir Callao ; finally, in the present century, Mr. Haly, the
a '.com [dished Director of the Colombo Museum, discovered it on
the West Coast of Ceylon, and succeeded in obtaining two or
three specimen?. One of these was presented by that institu-
tion to the Trustees of the British Museum, and, having been
mounted by Mr. Grerrard, it is now exhibited in the Fish Gallery,
wh'-re it forms one of the most striking objects, although it
must be considered a young example, measuring only 17 feet
from the end of the snout to the extremity of the tail.

" A true shark in every respect, Rhinodon is distinguished
from the other members of the tribe by the peculiar shape of
the head, which is of large size and great breadth, the mouth
being quite in front of the snout, and not at the lower side,
as in other sharks. Each jaw is armed with a band of teeth
arranged in regular transverse rows, and so minute that, in the
present specimen, their number has been calculated to be about
6.000. The gill openings are very wide ; and three raised folds
of the skin run along each side of the body. Also in its varie-
gated coloration this fish differs from tlie majority of sharks,
bei'ig prettily ornamented all over with spots and stripes of a
buff tint."

After waiting for several days on the chance of a moder-
ation of the prevailing south-west wind, I left Colombo with
Captain Donnan on the barque Snltdn Isl-andery which towed
after her the diving boats, each with its crew composed of
coxswain, rowers, divers, and munducks who attend to the
divers, letting them down by ropes, pulling them up, &.Q.
The steam-tug Active followed us on the following day. As
an inspection of the reported pearl bank off Negombo was
out of the question owing to the heavy swell, we sailed
straight on to Dutch Bay, where we anchored, after a some-
what boisterous journey, on the following morning, insida
the long and rapidly extending spit of sand, which forms the
western boundary of the bay, on which the sale bungalow,
kottus, &c., were standing during my last visit in March at
the time of the collapse of the pearl fishery. The Bay now
presented a very deserted appearance, a few fishermen, living
in huts and earning a modest living by curing sharks and
bony fishes, and a number of natives, from near and dia-

101

tant parts of the island, engaged in searching for stray
pearls in the sand formerly occupied by the washing kottus,
the site of which was indicated by the remains of the
fences and heaped up piles of oyster shells, and gaining as
the reward of their labour from one to two rupees a day,
being tbe sole human occupants of the sandy shore, on which
hosts of wading birds were ccmgregated. It was reported
that one woman had found five pearls, each of the size of an
ordinary pepper seed, for which she had been offered and
refused 150 rupees.

The seaward face of the sand-spit was strewed with coral
fragments rolled in by the waves from the reef, which inter-
venes between the shorje and the pearl bank, and is partially
laid bare at low tide ; and the sand was riddled with the
burrows of a verj large Ocijpod {0. platytarsis). If one of
these crabs is killed and left on the shore, its fellow creatures
carry it away into a burrow, and, doubtless, devour it.

On the day after our arrival at Dutch Bay we sailed in
one of the diving boats to Karaitivu and Ipantivu islands
and the mainland in search of a possible spot adapted for the
requirements of a pearl camp at the next fishery. In the
shallow water near the shore of Karaitivu island fishes —
Mugil and llotiiramphus — some of which leaped into the
boat and were eventually cooked, fell easy victims to fishing
eagles and gulls. Two hauls of the dredge in the sand and
mud brought up Amphioxus, Litaaria phalloideH, the Trepang
Holotlmria inarmorata, Astropccfcn /trnipricMi, Pliih/rascabri-
vscula, Chloeia flavn, and many molluscs ; the majority of
the species of mollusc, both here and in Dutch Bay, being
common to the Indian and Ceylon Coasts of the Gulf of
Manaar. On the mainland forming the eastern boundary
of Dutch Bay, into which the river Kala Oya discharges
its water b}' several mouths, dense jungle and swampy
ground teeming with the mollusc Pt/rnzus palustris reach right
down to the water's edge ; and, as we walked along the
shore, we came across solid evidence of the recent presence
of elephants. We were told by a native that bears and wild
pigs are so thick in the jungle that one trips over them as
one walks along !

In 1868 large numbers of young pearl-oysters are re-
ported to have been spread over a considerable extent of the
muddy bottom of Dutch Bay in from one to two fathoms

102

of water, "but the situation was, evidently, not favourable for
their healthy growth.^

The weather being unfavourable for the work of inspect-
ing, we had to remain unwillingly in Dutch Bay, the days
being spent in cruising about, and dredging in the shallow
water. But on the 2yth, as the wind had changed and the
sea abated, we made a start for the neighbouring pearl
bank — Muttuwartu Par — to which we were towed by the
Active. As soon as we had anchored on the south end of
the bank a diver was sent down from the ship's side in (5j
fathoms, and brought up his rope basket containing plenty of
healthy, living oysters, which, he reported, came away easily
from the " rock " to which they were attached by their
byssi.^ At the fishery in March the divers complained of the
difficulty in detaching the oysters ; and the ease Avith which
they can be gathered is considered a sign whether they are
ripe for fisliing or not, the byssus being said to begin to
break away from the substance to which it adheres tightly
in the early existence of the oyster after the 5th year.

The excellent system which is employed in the inspection
of the Ceylon banks, and by which a thorough knowledge
of the condition of the banks is obtained, is as follows. The
inspection barque is anchored in a position fixed on the
chart by bearings from the shore. The steam tug, towing
a boat with buoys bearing flags on board, first lays out
buoys in the north, south, east, and west at distances of j, i,
and I of a mile from the barque. Buoys are then laid out
at a distance of | of a mile from the barque in the north-
east, north-west, south-east, and south-west. Four diving
boats, each with a coxswain in charge, 5 rowers, 3 divers,
and 2 munducks, are arranged in line between the north ^
mile buoy and the barque, the distance being equally divided
between the boats. The rowers work round in a circle, and
the divers make frequent dives in search of oysters until
the starting point is reached. The boats are then again
arranged in position, and the circle between the i and | mile
buoys is explored. Lastly, the third circle, between the ^
and f mile buoys, is, in like manner, explored ; so that, when

^ E. W. H. Holdsworth. Report on the Conditions and Prospects of the
Pearl-Oijster Banks, 1868.

* " The term rock is applied to pieces of coral, living or dead, averaging
about a foot in diameter, which are scattered more or less thickly over certaiu
parts of the banks." Holdsworth, I.e.

DIAGRAM. A

Lithographed ia Central Survey Office, Madras
18S0

DIAGRAM. B

Xithographed in Central Survey Office, Madraa

1880 ^

k

103

this circle is completed, each boat has described three circles
with the inspection barque as a centre. And, in this way,
twelve circles in all are described by the four boats. The
oysters are then brought to the ship, counted, and put in
sacks daily, until a sufficient number (15,(>00) to form a
sample for washing and valuation by experts has been col-
lected.^ The coxswain of each boat records on a diagram,
provided by the Inspector, the approximate position of each
dive which is made, the nature of the bottom (a triangle =
rock, a circle =: sand, and a cross = oysters), and the number
of oysters lifted. Diagram A represents the day's work
done by one boat over ground which, with the exception of
a sandy patch between the north and east f mile buoys, was
rocky, and on which oysters were plentiful except over a
portion of the outer circle. Diagram B, made up from the
four coxswains' reports, represents a single day's work done
by all the boats, and shows the distribution of the oysters
over the area inspected, and the limits of the bank. As
soon as the buoys have been taken up by the tug the inspec-
tion barque is moved to a new position 1 ^ mile distant from
its former one, and the buoys are again laid out in circles, to
act as guides to the boats in the next day's work. Without
the assistance of the buoys the boats would not be able to
describe separate circles, but would work in an irregular
manner, and two or more boats would, very probably, go
over the same ground. But, with the assistance of the
buoys, the whole bank can be systematically surveyed.

The Muttuwartu Par, which was fished in the spring
of 1889, is situated about 5 miles from the seaward shore
of Dutch Bay, and covers an approximate area of 3 x 1 J
miles, the depth of water over the bank ranging from 5
to 10 fathoms with an average of about 7 fathoms. The
temperature of the water at the bottom, registered with a
Negretti and Zambra's deep-sea thermometer, varied from
80° to 82° between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The specific gravity
of the surface water, tested with a Twaddell's hydrometer
regulated for a temperature of 84°, was, approximately,
1"025. Between the bank and the shore is a coral reef, the
presence of which was indicated by the waves breaking over
its outer face amid a prevailing calm, and by gulls resting
on the coral blocks. The most conspicuous Madreporaria

* If a young bank is being inspected, samples are brought up by the
divers, but they are not \« ashed for valuation.

104

on tills reef, whicli is surrounded by 4 5 to 5 fatlioms of
water, belong to the genera Madrepora and Pocillopora^ while
Galaxea and Leptoria are present in less abundance. The
bright white patches of sand, which cover large spaces
between the coral growths, teem with Protozoa and a
calcareous Alga, and are more rich in delicate molluscs than
any other deposit which I have examined in the Gulf of
Manaar. Sheltered among the coral tufts were sluggish
Holothunans and hosts of small Crustaceans ; and, clinging
to the branches of a Madrepore, I found a single specimen of
the quaint Themis orientalis.

Outside the seaward face of the pearl banks on the Indian
coast of the Gulf of Manaar the depth of the sea increases
very gradually, so that, for example, outside the Tholayiram
Par, a depth of only l/> to 20 fathoms is reached at a
distance of 3 miles. Outside the Muttuwartu Par, how-
ever, the area of shallow water ceases very abruptly, and the
depth increases rapidly to 150 fathoms at a distance of three-
quarters of a mile from the seaward face of the bank, where
the following temperatures were recorded : —

Surface

. . 83°

60 fathoms .

. 68°

10 fathoms

.. 81°

100 „

. 61°

20 „

.. 80°

150 „

. 55°

30 „

.. 72°

Several hauls of the dredge brought up Polytrema
cj/Iindricum, Gorgoniw, Heteropsammia coehlea, Cirrhipathes
spiralis, Spongodes sp,, Fibularia orulum, &c., but no pearl-
oysters.

The divers received instructions to keep apart for me
everything, other than oysters, which they came across
during their day's work, under the general heading of corals,
shells, poocheps, and weeds; and, by examination of the
specimens which they reserved and going rapidly over the
oysters, I was enabled not only to make a rich collection
which awaits future investigation, but also to ascertain
roughly in what respects the faiina of this portion of the
West Coast of Ceylon differs from that of the Indian Coast
of the Gulf of Manaar. The first day's inspection of the
Muttuwartu Par showed not only that the oysters were very
abundant, in spite of the disturbance to which they were
subjected during the fishery in the spring, 4,580 living
specimens being brought up in 291 disres; but, further, that
the coral-incrusted shells, to which I have already referred

105

(p. 38), as being a distinguishing characteristic of this bank
as compared with the Tholayiram Par, are very abundant,
and belong to the genera Madrepora, Movtipora, Sydnopliora^
Porites, Pocillopora, Galaxea, C//phastrcea, C(sloria, Favia, and
Goniastrcea ; the living corals growing on the shells of living
oysters, which, did they migrate, would have, sometimes,
to carry about with them a weight of nearly 8 ounces.
The coral-incrusted shells had, prior to the fishery of the
Muttuwartu Par this year, only been seen by Captain
Donnan on the North-west Cheval Par; and, when the
oysters disappeared from the latter in 1888, the drift-oysters,
which were eventually found, were recognised by the
coral-growths upon them. Arborescent sea-weeds, forming
tangled masses, such as abound on the Tholayiram Par, were
conspicuously absent ; but the oyster shells were largely
encrusted with incrusting sponges, and the orange- coloured
Axinella donnani, which receives its specific name after the
present Inspector of Pearl Banks, was very common. In
addition to the shell-incrusting corals massive corals, mainly
belonging to the genus Madrepora, flourish on the bank,
forming a convenient habitat and hiding place for Annelids,
Crustaceans, Molluscs, &c., which can live there safe from the
attacks of predaceous enemies. The sea bottom is, so far as
I could gather from repeated examination, on different parts
of the bank, of the residue left after shaking up the oysters
in a bucket of water, and of the contents of the digestive tract
of a Holothurian {H, atra) which abounds on the bank,
mainly composed of a white deposit, such as I have only seen
on the Indian Coast of the Grulf of Manaar, which is composed
of a calcareous Alya and Foraminifera, among which Rotalia
calcar^ Heterosteyina depressa, and Amphistegina lessonii are
the most conspicuous. It was long ago pointed out by
Captain Steuart that the places, on which pearl fisheries
have been successfully held in Ceylon, appear to be beds of
Madrepore of irregular heights, having the spaces between the
ridges nearly filled up with sand. The transparent clearness
of the water over the banks, and the clean state of the sea
bottom, which is free from sediment carried down by currents,
must, I think, be regarded as important conditions favouring
the healthy growth of the oysters thereon.

Swimming about on the surface of the water over the
bank were many black and yellow striped sea-snakes, which
are believed by the divers to feed on the oysters. Indeed,
in 1862, the Eui'opean diver reported that he had seen the

106

snakes eating the oysters, darting into the shells when opened.
But this report must be viewed with grave suspicion. Apart
from snakes, the reputed enemies of the pearl-oyster on .the
Ceylon banks are molluscs, fishes, and currents. Among
molluscs are mentioned the Chank {Turbinella rapa) and a
big Murex {M. angiiliferus), known as the Elephant chank.
But, as Mr. Holdsworth observes, *' they may be looked on
as part of the vermin of the banks, but I have no reason to
think they cause more destruction on the oyster beds than
the hawk and the polecat do among the game of an ordinary
preserve." It is noticeable that the little Modiola known
as suran, which assumes such a prominent position in the
reports of the Inspector of Pearl Banks at Tuticorin, does
not, though present, occur, so far as I am aware, in any
great quantities on the Ceylon banks. Among fishes the
trigger fishes (Balis fes), commonly known as " Old Wives ",
are abundant on rocky parts of the banks, and I saw many
specimens caught by the boatmen fishing from the side of
the ship as we lay at anchor. Concerning these fishes
Captain Steuart reports that " the sea over the pearl banks
is well stocked with various fishes, some of which feed on
the oysters, and, when caught by the seamen on board the
guard vessel, pearls and crushed shells are often found in
their stomachs, particularly in the fish called by the Mala-
bars, the Clartee ; by the Singhalese, the Pottooberre ; and by
seamen, the Old Women. This fish is of an oval-shape,
about 12 inches in length and 6 inches in depth from the
top of the back to the under part of the belly, and is
covered with a thick skin. We saw ten pearls taken from
the stomach of one of these fish on board the Wellington.'*
The contents of the stomach and intestines of BalisteSy
which I examined while we were inspecting the Cheval Par,
consisted entirely of young oysters crushed by their sharp
cutting teeth. In addition to the trigger fishes, Rays are
said to be always more or less numerous on the banks, and
Mr. Holdsworth states that " when the fishery of 1863
commenced on the south-east part of the Cheval Par, the
divers reported the ground so covered with skates as to
interfere with their picking up the oysters. After a day
or two the continual disturbance by the divers had the effect
of driving the skates away from that part of the bank, and
these fish, many of them of very large size, were seen going
in the direction of the Modrigam, which was then covered
with oysters, whose age was estimated by the Superin-
tendent at 2^ — 3 years, by the Inspector at 3i — 4, and

107

by the native headman at 4 years. The skates were in
shoals, and their total number was estimated at from 10
to 15 thousand. Further, in his report on the inspection
of banks in March 1885, Captain Donnan notes the fact that
" on the way from the north Motaragam, and just about
the south side of the bed of oysters, we passed through a
large patch of thick ' discoloiu-ed water, caused by a shoal
of Rays plundering about on the bottom, and stirring up
the sand. Some of them could, at times, be seen near the
sui'face, and I have no doubt they were feeding on the
oysters." Some years ago the Sea Customs Officer at Dutch
Bay counted as many as 300 Rays in a single haul of a
fishing net. The native belief is that the Rays break up
the oyster shell with their teeth, and suck out the soft
animal matter. The stomach of a big Ray {^tohatis
narinari), 5 feet in breadth and with a tail 8^ feet in length,
which was caught by fishermen from a canoe off Sildvaturai
when we were at anchor there, consisted of sea weed. The
same fishermen caught for me off the Sildvaturai reef a
male Dugong, 9 feet in length, whose stomach contents
consisted of sea weed and large numbers of a Nematoid
worm.

It was roughly estimated as the result of the inspection
of the Muttuwartu Par, which lasted over three days, an
average of 589 yards and 16 oysters to a dive being
allowed, that it contained 30 million oysters spread over an
area of 9| million square yards, which should produce a
revenue of 5 lakhs of rupees.

On November 2nd we left the Muttuwartu Par, and
anchored in 8 fathoms, about 2 miles further north, so as
to hunt for a possible bed of oysters. The divers, making
the usual preliminary dives, brought up blocks of dead coral-
rock with living Turbinarice and Porites growing on them,
and containing, imbedded in the crevices, a large munber
of Foraminifera. The sample of 15,000 oysters from the
Muttuwartu Par, which were beginning to be unpleasant
fellow-passengers, was sent up to Sildvaturai to be washed.
It is stated by Captain Steuart that the offensive effluvium of
decomposing oysters " is not considered to have an unhealthy
tendency on the persons engaged in the kottus, and it is
astonishing how soon the most sensitive nose becomes accus-
tomed to the smell. Indeed some Europeans have fancied
their appetites sharpened by visiting the kottus, and being

108

surrounded by immense heaps consisting of millions of
oysters in all stages of decomposition.'^

The surface of the water, always rich in organisms, was
exceptionally so on the following morning, the tow-net,
dropped from the stern of the barque and kept distended by
the gentle current which was running, becoming speedily
filled with a gelatinous mass composed mainly of Sagittce
mingled with a host of Ctenophora, glassy molluscs, and
hungry fishes preying on Crustacean and other larvae. Only
a few young oysters being found, we again proceeded north-
ward, and anchored in 8| fathoms, the preliminary dives
bringing up Madrepores with Antedons entwined round their
branches, and large Melohesian nodules. Again only a few
scattered oysters were obtained as the result of a day's work,
but the divers brought me many specimens of Alcyonians,
and the bright-red sponge Axinella tubulata, living attached
by a broad base to dead coral- rock, and associated with its
commensal worm.^ The following temperature observations
were made half a mile west of the ship, where no bottom
was reached with the sounding line at 140 fathoms : —

Surface

.. 81-5°

50 fathoms .

75°

20 fathoms

.. 76-5°

100 „

62-5°

30 „

.. 76°

140 „

. 55°

On the afternoon of the 4th, we moved on, still north-
ward, to the Karaitivu Par,^ which was estimated, at the
inspection in November 1887, to contain 1,605,465 oysters.
The divers, going down from the ship, alighted on a bank
of FungicB, and brought up some living 5 -year old oysters
and Melohesian nodules. Attached to one of the nodules was
an extensive creeping colony of the delicate crimson-coloured
organism named Tuhipora reptans from the single small
specimen which has hitherto been recorded by Mr. H. J.
Carter.^ The present specimens were in a more advanced
stage of growth than the one described by Mr. Carter, which
I examined in the Liverpool Museum last year, and the
calycles were proportionately higher. By about four hours'
work next morning a sample of 8,000 oysters was collected

> Vide Atm. Mag. Nat. Hist., Feb. 1889, p. 89.

* The Karaitivu Par was fished in December 1889 ; but the fishery
came to an abrupt termination owing to a diver being killed by a shark.
Apparently three men went down into the water, and two came up almost
directly, saying that the third had been carried off by a shark. The rest of
the divers could not be prevailed on to resume work, and left the bank.

3 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hht., June 1880, p. 442.

109

for valuation, and the abundance of oysters may be judged
from the fact that, on more than one occasion, as many as
100 oysters were brought up at a single dive. My own
share of the morning's work consisted of a Fungia {F.
repanda) and three living specimens of the pearl-oyster
Avicula (Mekagrinn) mqrgnritifera, attached by its byssus to
coral-rock. Captain Donnan informs me that he has only
seen about a dozen specimens of this mollusc during his 28
years' experience as Inspector of the banks, so that it cannot
be present in any abundance. Shell-incrusting corals,
though present on the bank, were far less common than on
the Muttuwartu Par.

On the afternoon of the 5th we sailed about 20 miles
north, and anchored in 2 fathoms, 3 miles south of the
village off Aripu, off Sildvaturai, which is made the head-
quarters at times when the Cheval and Motaragam (Mud-
rigam) banks are fished. Eising from the sandy shore
between Aripu and Sildvaturai is a miniature sand-cliff,
reaching a maximum height of about 12 feet, and extend-
ing over a distance of about half a mile, which contains a
thick bed composed almost entirely of pearl-oyster shells —
evidence of the enormous number of oysters which have been
taken from the neighbouring banks at fisheries in the past.
Similar beds of oyster shells were exposed in sections nearly
a mile inland. The Cheval and Motaragam banks are
situateil from 9 to 12 miles out at sea in water varying in
depth from 6 to 10 fathoms. Between the shore and the
banks the water gradually reaches a depth of 6 fathoms ; but,
as in the case of the Muttuwartu and Karaitivu Pars, the
depth increases rapidly to 150 fathoms outside the banks.
The sea bottom between the shore and the banks is made up
mainly of sand with many worn shells, a luxuriant growth of
sea-weeds, and scattered coral patches. Among moUusca
Modiola tulipa in an advanced stage of growth, and the chank
{Turbinella rapa) were very abundant. No fishing for chanks
is permitted south of the Island of Manaar, lest, at the same
time, raids should be made on the pearl banks. The fishery
is, however, actively carried on north of the island on a dif->
ferent system to that which is in force at Tutieorin (p 3-3),
the boat- owners paying a small sum of money annually to
Government, and making wbat profit they can from the sale
of the shells.

Writing of the banks off Aripu, which have been, for
many years, the sheet-anchor of the Ceylon fishery, Captain

110

Steuart observes that " the number of successful fisheries
obtained on the banks lying off the Aripu coast, more than
on any other banks in the Grulf of Manaar, and the high
estimation in which the pearls from these fisheries are
deservedly held, would seem to indicate some peculiar
quality in the bottom of the sea in these parts, which is
favourable to the existence of pearl-oysters, and for bringing
them to the greatest perfection. We know there is some-
thing in the nature of the bottom of certain parts of the sea,
which is favourable to the subsistence and growth of par-
ticular fishes, and which improves the flavour for the food
of mankind : for instance, the sole and the plaice caught
in Hythe bay on the Kentish coast are esteemed better than
those caught off Rye on the western side of Dungeness; and
we also know that cod, turbot, oysters, and, indeed, most
edible fishes are prized in proportion to the estimation in
which the banks are held, from whence they have been
taken."

In 1885 Captain Donnan attempted to cultivate the pearl-
oyster on a coral reef, three miles from the shore, which was
considered to be sufficiently far removed from the baneful
influence of the Aripu river during the freshes. A tank for
the reception of the oysters was dug in the centre of the reef,
and surrounded by blocks of coral to form a barrier round its
edge, heaped up high enough to be just awash at the highest
tide. But the experiment failed, as, out of 12,000 oysters
which were placed in the tank, only 27 remained alive at
the end of seven months. " Some of the oysters," Captain
Donnan writes, " may have been washed out of the tank
by the south-west monsoon sea, as it was not completely
sheltered from the wash of the waves, but the bulk of them
have, I believe, died off and been destroyed by some fish
preying upon them. About 100 dead shells were found in
the bottom of the tank, many of which bore evidence of
having been bored and nibbled away. It is just possible
that some fish may have got into the tank, and preyed upon
the oysters, either by getting over the coral barrier around
it, which would be slightly under water at high- water, or
through the interstices of the coral underneath. The experi-
ment so far has been a failure, and may be attributable to
four causes : —

" (1) overcrowding the oysters in the tank ;
" (2) deficiency of nourishment in water so near the
surface ;

Ill

** (3) destruction by fish, which had got into the tank,
and preyed uj)on them ;

** (4) by excessive agitation of the water in the tank
during the south-west monsoon sea ; or, pro-
bably, to all these causes combined."

In March 1886 another experimental tank was made on
a more sheltered part of the reef, and 5,000 oysters were
placed in it. But, in the following year, all the oysters
were found to be dead. The artificial cultivation of the
pearl-oyster was attempted some years ago in a nursery
mfi.de in the shallow muddy water of the Tuticorin harbour
without success ; and, in his final report to the Ceylon
Grovernment, Mr. Holdsworth expresses his opinion that
there is no ground for thinking that artificial cultivation of
the pearl-oyster can be profitably carried out on the Cej'lon
coast, as the conditions necessary for the healthy growth
of the oysters are not to be found in the very few places,
where they could be at all protected or watched.

On the way to Captain Donnan's tank, which we visited,
we rowed over extensive banks of Alcychnans, of the luxu-
riant growth and size of which only a very feeble idea is
obtained from specimens as seen in museums. On the sandy
bottom a large number of Echinoderms, solitary or clustered
together, were clearly visible ; and, with the assistance of the
divers and the dredge, the following species were procured : —
Temnojileurus toreumaficKs, a violet-spined Temnopleuroid^
Oreaster thurstoni, Salmacis bicolor, Lagarium depressum, Fihul'
aria voloa, Echinolampas oviformh, Holothuria afra, and Colo-
chirus quadrangularis. These species, as also Oreaster linchi
and Linckia Ivevigata, which abound on the Muttuwartu Par,
are all found on the opposite coast of the Grulf of Mannar,
A single young specimen of IlippocampKS was also brought
up in the dredge. The tank, washed by the gentle swell,
showed no signs of pearl-oysters, which had, doubtless, been
smothered and disappeared below the surface of the bottom.
But growing from the inner side of the barrier of dead
coral which formed the wall of the tank was a fringe of
living corals — Monfipora, Pocillopora, Madrepora, &c. As
these corals had grown in their present position since the
construction of the tank, which was built up entirely of dead
blocks of solid coral brought from the shore, the living corals
on the reef being found to be too brittle to form a suitable
wall, it was obvious that, as the tank was built in March
1886, the age of the corals did not exceed three years and

112

nine months. Accordingly I had the largest specimen of
Montipora carefully detached from the dead coral-rock on
which it was growing, and found that it measured 40 inches
in length, 9 inches in height, and 16 inches in breadth, and
weighed 17 pouads.

After remaining at anchor for some days off Silavaturai,
we started on the morning of the 10th for the western side
of the great Cheval Par, which is known by the divers as
kodai (umbrella) Par from the prevalence on it of a shallow
cup-shaped sponge, Spongionella holdsworthi, which is sup-
posed, by their imaginative brains, to resemble an umbrella.
In a letter to Mr. Bowerbank, by whom this sponge was
described,^ Mr. Holdsworth stated that " is onl}' found on
the 9 fathom line of the large pearl bank. It is attached to
pieces of dead coral or stones. When alive it is of a dark
brown ; and when taken out of water it looks exactly like
dirty wet leather .... This sponge is so strictly confined
to the locality above mentioned that its discovery by the
divers is considered the strongest evidence that the outer
part of the bank has been reached." Another conspicuous
sponge on this bank was the large, pale pink-coloured
Petrosia testudinaria, which also lives on the Tholayiram
Par.

It was from the Cheval Par that, in 1888, about 150
millions of oysters, ripe for fishing, disappeared in the space
of two months, between November and February. This
disappearance en masse was attributed by the natives to a
vast shoal of rays, called 8ankoody ti/rica or Koopu tyricay
which is said to eat up oyster shells. But the more prac-
tical mind of the Inspector of the pearl banks attributed the
disaster — for such it was from a financial point of view — to
the influence of a strong southerly current, which was running
for some days in December — a current so strong that the
Engineer of the Active had to let go a second anchor to
prevent the ship from dragging.

The divers, going down from the ship as soon as we
were at anchor over the bank in 6i fathoms, reported abund-
ance of young oysters, whose average breadth at the hinge
was '75 inch, said by some to be three months, by others six
months' old, and brought up samples, from the rocky bottom
interspersed with patches of fine sand, attached to dead coral,

' Froc. Zool. Soc, 1873, p. 25, pi. v.

113

Melobesise, sponges, and any other rough surface suitable
for the attachment of the hyssus. That the pearl-oyster
prefers a rough to a smooth surface as an anchorage is shown
not only by its usual habitat, but also by the observation
that young oysters have beea found clinging to the coir
rope moorings of a bamboo, but not to the bamboo itself or
the chain moorings. The number of young oysters on a
small nodule brought up by the divers was counted, and
found to bo 180, scattered among which were 20 specimens
of the little Suran.

The prevailing stony corals on the west Ch^val Par,
brought up by the divers with dense clusters of young
oysters adhering to them, belonged to the genera Pontes,
Astrcea, and C//phastrcen, growing from a base of conglom-
erated sand-rock, which is known by the divers as " flat rock."
These corals, when broken up, proved a rich hunting ground
for small crustaceans, tubicolous worms, and lithodomous
mollusca. Very abundant on the bank were the bright-red
JuitceJla juncca and the corklike Stiherogorgia subetosa, on
the axes and branches of which clusters of oysters were
collected.

At the time of his last inspection of the west Cheval Par
in 1888, Captain Donnan found a large portion of it stocked
with oysters one year old, which had, in the interval between
the inspections, died from natural causes or been killed off,
and replaced by another brood. Tlie life of the pearl-oyster
must be a struggle ,not only during the time at which it
leads a wandering existence on the surface,^ and is at the
mercy of pelagic organisms, but even after it has settled down
on the bottom, where it is liable to be eaten up by fishes,
Holothurians, molluscs, &c., or washed away from its moor-
ings by currents ; and comparatively few out of a large fall of
*' spat " on a bank can reach maturity even under the most
favourable conditions. " Much," Captain Steuart writes,
" appears to depend on the depth of water over the ground,
and the nature and quality of the soil upon which brood-
oysters settle, whether any portion of them eventually reaches
the age of maturity. If the deposit be of small extent, or
be thinly scattered, the young oysters are often devoured by
fishes, before the shells are hard enough to protect them.
But, when the deposits settle in dense heaps upon places

' Young pearl-oysters have been found attached to floating timber and
buoys, and to the bottoms of boats.

114

favoura"ble for their nourisliinent and growth, many of them
survive to become the source of considerable revenue." How
great is tbo struggle of the pearl-oyster for existence is very
clearly shown by the records of the Tuticorin inspections, in
which, time after time, a bank is noted in one year as being
thickly covered with young oj'sters, and in the next year as
being blank. Not, in fact, till a bank is thickly covered with
oysters two years' old can any hope be held out that it will
eventually yield a fishery.

Outside the west Cheval Par a sand flat extends for some
distance north and south, from which the dredge brought
up masses of coarse, broken shells, and, a,mong other speci-
mens, large numbers of Aniphioxus and Cli/pemter humiliHj
and single specimens of Ophiothrix aspidota and Astropecten
hempricliii ; the digestive cavity of the latter being distended
by a large Mevetrix (M. casfcuifa) and seven other smaller
molluscs, which it had swallowed. From the stretch of sand
between the east and west Cheval Pars the Echinoids Eclimo-
discus auritwi and Metalia stemalis were obtained.

During our stay on the west Cheval Par, large numbers
of the butterfly Popilio {Mcnelaides) hector were seen daily
fluttering around the ship 10 miles out at sea. The Active
steaming at the rate of 4 knots an hour, and the diving
boats under sail caught many seir fish {Ci/bucm guttattim)
with a long line towing astern and made fast to the yard-
arm of the lug sail, and baited with a piece of white rag.
For catching seir the hooks are, sometimes, baited with a
small fish or the white of a cocoanut cut into the shape of
a fish. From the barque at anchor many Balistes and the
crimson-coloured Lutianus erythropterus were caught by the
crew with lines baited with fish. The stomachs of the former
always contained crushed pearl-oysters, and those of the latter
small fishes.

On the 1-lth we inspected the small Periya Par, situated
3 miles westward of the west Cheval Par, which we
found irregularly stocked with young oysters. Sounding
seaward from the bank, we found 9 fathoms at a distance of
1 mile, 14 fathoms at a distance of 2 miles, and did not
strike bottom at 150 fathoms at a distance of 4 miles. The
sea bottom shelves here less abruptly than outside the
Muttuwartu Par, where a depth of 150 fathoms was obtained
at a distance of | of a mile from the seaward face of the
bank. The thermometer registered 54" at 150 fathoms, and
59° at 100 fathoms, the surface temperature being 83°. On

115

this and the two preceding days a bright blue-eyed Palcemonid
larva was very abundant on the surface.

The next four days, during which the weather was very
unpleasant and suggestive of a cyclonic storm in the Bay of
Bengal, were spent in inspecting the east Cheval Par. The
divers, going down as soon as we had anchored at the north
end of the bank, brought up blocks of incrusted sand-rock,
and specimens of the black-coloured sponge Spongionella
nigra, but no oysters, which were, in fact, absent over the
entire bank. This bank is mainly characterised by the
abundant growth on it of Suberogorgin snberosa, on the
branches of one of which an A^trophyton {A. chtvntum ?)
was entwined, and a heather- like Hydroid, the tangled
branches of which were studded with the striped Avicula
zebra, and which should afford good anchorage for young
oysters. Conspicuous among other specimens, which were
obtained, were the sponge Hircinia clathrata affording a
home to Ba/anim (Acnstn) spongite-t, the corals Tnrhinaria
crater and Turbinaria pafula, and the Kchinoderms Antedon
palmata, Sahnacis bicolor, Clypeaster hitmilis, and Echinaster
purpureus. A single specimen of Ophiothrix aspidota was
found coiled up in a cavity in a block of Poiitea. As on the
other banks which we inspected, sea- weeds were not present
in any quantity. The quantity of weed on the banks is said,
however, to vary much from year to year.

The inspection of the east Cheval Par completed, we
went a short distance south, and spent a couple of days
on the Motaragam Pars, which were also blank so far as
oysters were concerned. The pearls from these Pars are
highly valued by the pearl -merchants, and, at the fishery
of 1888, the oysters fetched from 100 to 109 rupees per
thousand at auction, a single day's fishing realizing over
60,00() rupees. The weather had cleared up by this time,
and the divers were again able to work in comfort for a
short time. Rain interferes very much with an inspection,
as the divers complain that it makes them cold and shivery
when they come out of the water. Here, as on the east
Cheval Par, the animal collected in greatest abundance was
Clypcaster humilis ; but the divers also brought up many
specimens of the chank, the unpleasant looking animal of
which is eaten by the natives ; Pinna bicolor, which is said
to occur on the sandy parts of the banks in beds of some
extent ; and the hammer-headed oyster. The Hydroid, which
was so conspicuous a feature of the east Cheval, was absent
from the Motaragam Par.

116

At this stage a strong south-west wind came on, accom-
panied by an unpleasant swell, and drove us into Sildvaturai ;
but, luckily, all the important work of the inspection tour
was finished, two small ba.nks alone remaining to be examined.
A rolling journey on the tug Active brought me back to
Colombo, and my second visit to Ceylon, more auspicious
than the first, was over.

During the last quarter of a century, the Ceylon Grovern-
ment has derived a handsome profit from its pearl banks,
■which have been lucratively fished on nine occasions ; while,
during the same period, the banks belonging to the Madras
Government have yielded only a single fishery, not because
the oysters have ceased to settle, when young, on the banks,
but because they have failed, owing to a combination of
physical and other unfavourable conditions, to reach maturity
there. Writing, in 1697, for the instruction of the Political
Council of Jafinapatnam, the then Commandant of that
town justly remarked that the pearl fishery is an extra-
ordinary source of revenue, on which no reliance can be
placed, as it depends on various contingencies, which may
ruin the banks, or spoil the oysters And this remark holds
good after the lapse of two centuries. In 1740 the Baion
von Imhoff, on his departure from the Government of
Ceylon, in a memoir left for the instruction of his successor,
stated that "it is now several years since the pearl banks
have fallen into a very bad state both at Manaar and
Tuticorin ; this is mere chance, and experience has shown
that, on former occasions, the banks have been unproductive
even for a longer period than has yet occurred at present.'^
And a century later, in 1843, Captain Steuart, at the
commencement of his admirable " Account of the Pearl
Fisheries of Ceylon," refers to the failure at that time of the
now lucrative Ceylon fishery. Is it then rash, looking back
to the fiuctuating experience of the past, to express a belief
that, in the not far distant future, the reputation of the
Tuticorin banks will rival that of the at present well favoured
banks of Ceylon ?

The name of Captain Donnan has repeatedly appeared in
this chapter, and I should be, indeed, ungrateful were I not
to acknowledge not only the great assistance which I received
from him in carrying out my zoological work, but also the
vast store of information which I gathered from him during-
our month of banishment from the outside world.

3 2044 107 306 672