22 



expanse of water formed by the junction of the Kuranji and Kadero creeks, 

 thereafter passing up the Kuranji as far as the village of Reri, frequently halting 

 in order to obtain acquaintance with the character of the bottom, and the fre- 

 quency or otherwise of dead oyster patches. 



89. The evidence obtained fully confirmed the statements received of the 

 former great abundance of oysters over this ground, particularly at the con- 

 fluence of the two creeks where dead shells occur over sufficiently large areas 

 as to fully deserve the name of beds rather than that of patches ; for the sake of 

 distinction we may term these the Kadero beds. 



90. Up the Kuranji towards Reri the size of the patches gradually 

 lessons in individual area and they occur at lengthening intervals. The two 

 sets differ materially in the character of their physical environment, those up 

 the Kuranji rising from a soft mud bottom while those at the mouth of the 

 Kadero rise from a shelly gravel mixed with a certain amount of dark grey 

 mud and some sand. 



91. The dead oyster shells of the latter beds in the majority of cases 

 exhibit a distinct divergence from the usual slipper form ; they tend towards a 

 marked broadening with a corresponding decrease in the ratio of depth to true 

 length/ 1 ' a difference due partly to the harder nature of the bottom here and 

 partly to the effects of constant fishing when this bed was being exploited. 

 Except for a single individual of 3 inches in depth and half a dozen stunted- 

 looking brood varying from ^ to f inch in diameter, oysters were represented only 

 by dead shells. Upon and among these a host of marine organisms of great 

 variety found footing and shelter ; indeed the diversity and richness of this 

 associated fauna were suprisingly great and most notable in comparison with the 

 relative poverty of such life found on the oyster patches in the creeks to the 

 southward. All were of a distinctly marine type. Hydroids and polyzoa 

 were abundant including quantities of a stout, alternately branching coarse 

 and fleshy hydroid, 2| to 3 inches in height, the colonies usually crusted 

 with patches of yellow sponge and grey leptoclinid. The branched tubes of 

 Eunice tubifex were plentiful, as usual giving footing to sponges, ascidians, and 

 polyzoa. The dark grey tubes of a small species of Sabella, 2 to 2| inches long, 

 were also common among the interstices of the oyster clumps while the 

 calcareous tubes of a Serpulid meandered over the inner surfaces of empty 

 shells. 



92. Sponges were singularly numerous and conspicuous, among them a 

 yellow Halic'hondria and several crusting species. Tunicates were represented by 

 quantities of the inconspicuous grey Leptochiuid mentioned above and by several 

 species of simple ascidians a small red species, a large pinkish one and a 

 number of individuals of a 2-inch long transparent colourless species resembling 

 dona intestinalis in transparency of tunic. Of associated molluscs a small 

 species of Area, averaging a little over one inch in length, was exceedingly 

 plentiful ; indeed the shell gravel which forms an important constituent of the 

 bottom here is composed principally of fragments of this shell mixed with an 

 appreciable quantity of the flat valves of dead brood oysters. Anomia was not 

 very abundant but several fairly large living ones were seen. It was also noted 

 that Banacles were not abundant. 



93. The most distinctive associated organism was a small cup-coral occur- 

 ring upon dead oyster valves in great profusion, flourishing exceedingly. No 

 alcyonarians, gorgonids, nor large actinozoa were seen ; algae were conspicuous 

 by their absence. 



94. The Kuranji creek oysters were also found to be all dead, no brood 

 oysters even were seen. The shells brought up by our men from 5 feet of 

 water it being then about hulf tide were of typical mud-creek form and 

 appearance, long and slipper-shaped. Many were of very great size, the largest 



(i) Length of an oyster shell is really tbe distance from the anterior to the posterior margin 

 depth the distance bi!tw< en the hinge and the ventral margin. Depth is taken at right a; gles to 

 the hinge line ; it is usually termed the length of the shell in common parlance as the true length is 

 usually less than the depth. 



