SURVEY Of lake TAMBLECtAM. 43 



portion is bounded by lines drawn between Sinna Vellaikalmunai and 

 Kodaipota on the east , and between Peyaddairaunai and Kakamunai 

 on the west. 



Hornell's Palamput bed should be farther west, in order to coin- 

 cide with the potential area of that part of the bay as determined 

 from my observations in September, 1911. The position of Kapal- 

 turai bed as defined by Hornell should be about half a mile farther 

 south than what he has indicated, and it appears to be joined to 

 the so-called Kakamunai bed of Hornell. This latter bed is made 

 up of the following beds referred to in Willey's Administration 

 Report (Marine Biology), 1909 :— 



(1) Sembianar Motuaram, off the mouth of the Sembian-aar. 



(2) Kakamunai , north-west of Kakamunai Point. 



(3) Polokarai-aru Motuaram, between (1) and (2). 



(4) Sembianar Vilangu, an offshore bed lying to the north of 



(2) and (3). 



This division of the beds is recognized by the fishermen and 

 divers, but so far as I can determine from the results of my survey 

 there is practically one large bed covering the whole of the central 

 part of the lake, which is especially productive in the southern 

 portion of this area. 



At present the northern half of this area (see Charts 5 and 6) is 

 barren, and contains nothing but dead shells, which in some parts 

 are very abundant. In the southern half there is a fairly large bed 

 of young oysters, about 3|- inches in the greatest diameter. The 

 age of these oysters is uncertain, but it is probable that they are at 

 least twelve months old. It is interesting to note that in January, 

 1911, practically no oysters were reported from this area. Eight 

 months later the, divers reported the presence of a flourishing bed 

 of young oysters. It is possible that these oysters were present in 

 January as extremely small spat, which escaped the notice of the 

 divers. I questioned both the Government watcher and the divers 

 about this, and they were all confident that the oysters were not 

 present during the January inspection. One is absolutely dependent 

 upon the reports of the divers, as dredging in the soft mud would 

 be quite impossible, and consequently there is no way of discovering 

 errors. 



I propose to return to Tamblegam in January, 1912, in order to 

 transplant some of these young oysters to other parts of the lake 

 which are barren at present. This new bed of young oysters will not 

 be sufficient to justify a fishery in two years or so, but they will 

 prove of the greatest value for the purposes of a transplantation 

 experiment. I propose to enclose small areas of about 300 square 

 yards upon the following beds : — Palamput, Kakamunai, Sembianar 

 Vilangu, Nachchikuda, and Kapalturai. Young oysters will be 

 planted in these areas, and it will then be possible to keep the oysters 



