42 CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



Serpula actinoceros ; 

 Ampelisca macrocephala, Pagurids ; 

 Cassis glauca and a few other Molluscan shells. 



A tow-net gathering taken at the same time yielded 26 species of Copepoda along 

 with Trichodcsmium erythrceum. 



Another haul of the dredge was taken further on at 



STATION XXXIII. Halfway from Arugam to Little Basses, about 4 miles from 

 land ; depth 18 fathoms ; bottom dead shells and Nullipore. 



Axinellid sponge (large, orange, branching, gorgonid-like form, which is probably a 

 new genus) ; 



Solitary corals, Plexaura indica and some other Gorgonacea ; 



Rhinobrissus pyramidalis (?), various Ophiuroids ; 



Ampelisca macrocephala, and other Amphipoda. 



We reached Welligam (or Belligama) Bay, near to Dondra Head, the most 

 southerly point of the island, in the early morning of February 13th. One of the 

 points I had to determine during this preliminary survey of the marine biology of the 

 Ceylon coast was the most suitable spot for a small marine laboratory in which 

 Mr. Hornell could continue our work at the pearl oysters during the monsoon after 

 I left. All naturalists know of Professor Haeckel' s visit to Ceylon in the winter of 

 1881-2, and of how he carried on shore and pelagic work for some months at the 

 southern end of the island, and especially at Welligam (the " Bella-Gemma"' of the 

 enthusiastic German professor), where he found congenial quarters, ideal natives and 

 an interesting fauna. His happiness in his general surroundings is reflected in his 

 glowing description of the bay as a zoological paradise. Hearing that I was going to 

 Ceylon, Haeckel kindly wrote pressing " Bella-Gemma " upon my attention as an 

 ideal spot for a biological station. He also very fairly mentioned Trincomalee as a 

 place where his friends Dr. Paul and Dr. Fritz Sarasin had worked but which he 

 did not himself know. Welligam looked charming on land, but seemed to us to have 

 a poor bottom fauna compared with either Galle or Trincomalee. Haeckel however 

 worked mainly, if not wholly, on the surface animals collected witli the tow-net ; and 

 these no doubt, so far as the oceanic forms are concerned, are much the same as at 

 Galle. 



While the " Lady Havelock" lay at anchor in Welligam, we went off in the boat 

 and had seven hauls of the dredge scattered fairly over the bay so as to adequately 

 sample the ground. As all parts seemed alike in character and fauna I propose to 

 unite them as 



STATION XXXIV. Welligam Bay, various parts; depths 2 to 7 fathoms; bottom 

 shell-sand and a little mud ; sea-temperature at 7 a.m. 7 7 "8 F., specific gravity 

 1-0225 ; dredged. 

 Orbitolites complanata, Polytremu miniaceiim, and small sponges; 



