62 



nodules almost solid tlirougliout, or covered with short, thick, 



nuUiporiform processes Next to the part 



which the Afeiohe.Kue have taken in their formation may be 

 mentioned the sessile Fomniixifera, and these have, in turn, 

 been overgrown, in many instances, by Pohjzoa." 



Specimens have been picked up on shoie both by Mr. 

 Bruce Foote and myself of a curious body, the nature of 

 which has given rise to some discussion, and is still sub 

 judice. One of them was exhibited at the Linnean ISociety, 

 and Dr. Anderson and Mr. Dendy were inclined to regard it 

 as, possibly, the consolidated roe of a fish ; whereas Professor 

 Charles Stewart was of opinion that it was a vegetable 

 structure, his opinion being based on the examination of 

 microscopical preparations which he demonstrated to me 

 when I was recently in Europe. 



Among other specimens collected on the Pdmban beach 

 I may mention the complex tubular skeletons of the Choe- 

 topod Filograna, and large blocks of drift wood bored by the 

 mollusca Teredo and ParcqyJioJas, of which the latter has 

 recently destroyed the bottom of the local port gig. 



The Indian fin-whale {Bakenoptem indica) has been 

 known to accompany vessels in the Gulf of Manaar, and I 

 have seen one close to a . steamer in which I was rounding 

 Cape Comorin. It is related that, some years ago, the 

 schooner Abdul lidinaii, which was at anchor close to 

 Pamban, was suddenly released from her moorings, and 

 towed out to sea to a distance of several miles by some invi- 

 sible agent. A few days afterwards the carcase of a whale 

 was cast on shore, and the theory was that this whale was 

 the cause of the involuntary cruise, it having been tempted 

 out of curiosity to examine the ship, in whose grapnel it is 

 supposed to have been caught, and to have taken the steamer 

 in tow until it liberated itself. 



The phytophagous Sirenian HaUcore dugong (the dugong), 

 which is said * to be found in the salt water inlets of South 

 Malabar, feeding on the vegetable matter about the rocks and 

 basking and sleeping in the morning sun, is according to 

 Emerson Tennent'^ attracted in numbers to the inlet from the 

 Bay of Calpentyn on the west coast of Ceylon to Adam's 

 Bridge by the still water and the abimdance of marine algse 

 in this part of the Grulf of Manaar. It is of an extremely 



^ Jerdon, Mammals of India. * Ceylon, vol. II, 1860. 



