88 



CEYLON PEARL OYKTKK REPORT. 



we went on by small boat next day to join the "Serendib," which was sent down the 

 coast by Captain Donna N to meet us. I had now only about ten days left in Ceylon 

 and was anxious to spend most of that time on board the inspection barque seeing 



Fig. 23. Experimental oyster cages moored in Galle Bay. 



the divers at work and following their results day by day. We reached the 

 " Kangasameeporawee " on the Muttuvaratu Paar in the evening of the 28th, and 

 rejoined Captains Donnan and Legge and Sir W. Twynam. On the 29th March 

 we were working on Donnan's Muttuvaratu Paar all day. There were plenty of 

 oysters, and the divers brought us up samples and other specimens enough to keep 

 all hands busy. Amongst other interesting forms found here was a new species of 

 Chitonidse, Ischnochiton ravance, n. sp. We had now re-started all the tanks and 

 tubs and had many experiments under observation. The paar was estimated to have 

 about 277,000,000 of oysters between \l and 2i years old, but cpiite a number of 

 them, in the samples we examined, were found to have a dwarfed or ill-grown 

 appearance, accompanied by a yellow discoloration of the mantle and other tissues.. 

 We carefully examined this yellow and stunted condition of these oysters both at the 

 time and since, and shall discuss it later on in the report. A good deal of our time 

 was now occupied in examining the food in the stomachs and the sexual condition of 

 the oysters (fig. 24 shows our work place on the barque). We also took tow-net 

 gatherings and obtained samples of the bottom and the bottom fauna by means of 

 the divers, but we had no further dredging or trawling. 



The Tow-NET on March 2'Jth, over Donnan's Paar, yielded Trichoi/esmium, Sagitta. 



