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MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



[VOL. XVI, 



The annexed table shows the results of these fisheries so far as 

 I can obtain particulars : — 



The name Tolayiram Par, literally "900 banks, " pithily describes 

 the peculiar physical conditions which prevail over the area so 

 denominated. The character of the bottom is an alternation of 

 rocky patches scattered irregularly in a vast setting of sand. 



The sizes of the outcrops of rock differ greatly, from little 

 tabular fragments a foot or two across to great areas of several 

 acres in extent. The ?and is nowhere deep, seldom forming a 

 layer of more than six inches in depth, filling up inequalities in the 

 rocky framework of the bank. 



The rock is a fine-grained limestone compact and resonant, the 

 colour yellowish brown. Here and there a small admixture of 

 quartz is present but never in any large proportion. Loose blocks 

 and many parts of the exposed surfaces are in a "rotten" condi- 

 tion, tunnelled and excavated by boring molluscs and occasionally 

 by Cliona. 



The character of the sand is fine-grained and almost entirely 

 calcareous — a similar material to that from which the underlying 

 rock has originated. 



Cultch is fairly abundant in places, scattered over the sand. 

 It consists of dead shells, broken branches of Madrepore coral 

 (" challai "), Echinoid tests and similar material. 



A striking parallelism can be traced in nearly every character- 

 istic between this bank and the well-known Periya Par on the 

 Ceylon side of the Gulf of Mannar. In both cases the bottom con- 

 sists of a few inches of sand covering flat rock in those places 



