NARRATIVE. 



living and growing coral reef; but from the older records it seems probable that in 

 Dutch or Portuguese times these ranked amongst the productive oyster banks. 



On April 3rd we moved down south to the Jokkenpiddi Paar, the last I was able 

 to examine personally. The sea-temperature at 7 a.m. was 8 5 "5 F. We anchored 

 the barque on the north end, and in the " Serendib" ran south for about 7 miles and 

 then steamed slowly back, sending the divers down every \ mile. Most of the dives 

 gave a " rock " bottom with dead, and occasionally living, coral, and in several places 

 young oysters (3 to 6 months) in quantity; depth 8| to 10 fathoms. Amongst the 

 animals brought up were : 



Axinella clonnani, an abundant lilac Chalina and other sponges ; 



Various Gorgonoids and common living corals ; 



Echinostrephus molare (in deep burrows in coral blocks), Antedon sp. (with 

 commensal Alpheus comatulonun) ; 



SabeUaria bicomis and other Worms ; Dromiad and other small Crabs ; 



Chama foliata, and some coral-boring Lamellibranchs, Pearl Oysters, "Suran" 

 (Modiola) and "Oorie" (Sistrum) ; Leptoclinum sp. 



At 10 p.m., on April 3rd, I had to leave the barque " Rangasameeporawee," and 

 was conveyed by the " Serendib" down to Colombo as I was booked to leave Ceylon 

 on April 7th, and had still to discuss various matters with the Lieutenant-Governor, 

 transact business at the Master- Attendant's and other Government Offices in Colombo 

 and see to the preservation and packing of many specimens. Mr. Hornell remained 

 with Captain Donnan for a few days longer to complete the inspection of the southern 

 paars, and obtain a supply of pearl oysters of various ages to take with him to the 

 marine laboratory at Galle. He examined the Jokkenpiddi, Karkapanni, Chilaw, 

 Oolawitti and Negombo paars, and brought 

 a quantity of young oysters from these 

 banks to Colombo, where they were sus- 

 pended in coir baskets from the stern of 

 the barque lying in the harbour. He then 

 took the "Serendib" north to the Muttu- 

 varatu Paar, obtained a supply of large 

 oysters (3 years old), returned to Colombo, 

 picked up the young oysters and conveyed 

 the whole cargo round to Galle, where they 

 arrived in splendid condition, not one oyster 

 having died on the way. This shows the 

 practicability of conveying the pearl oysters, 

 both old and young, from place to place in a 

 healthy condition by the means we adopted. 

 Great care is, however, necessary if the temperature be high (the sea averaged 

 about 85 F. during our operations) and if the run be more than 3G hours without 



N 2 



:o--vl A 



MUX fift^ Foot 

 - S.OtKS k Coral 



RAMPAgT WALL 



Fig. 25. Galle Marine Biological Station, at 

 former Military Hospital on Akersloot or 

 Sailors' Bastion. 



A, semi-rotary hand pump; B, aquarium shed; 

 C, inlet pipe from D, coral pool ; E, suriya 

 tree ; F, entrance steps from Dutch gateway 

 dated 1759; G, overflow pipe. 



