400 REPOKT— 1900. 



edge. As the female is said to be blind I made many experiments to> 

 determine the sensitiveness of the male to light. It was conclusively 

 shown that the male is not only not blind, but is extremely sensitive ta 

 light in that it avoids extremes both of light and darkness, and in an 

 area offering various degrees of illumination invariably takes up a 

 moderately illuminated position. 



As more specimens of Pinnotheres could not be found, I decided to 

 study the myology of Calanus. It would be out of place to give here the 

 details of the musculature of this copepod, but it is intei-esting to note 

 that the arrangement and comparative size of the muscles tend to support 

 Prof. MacBride's recent statements as to the movements of C'alanns and 

 other copepods, viz. , by means of their second antennae and pleopods, and 

 not by means of their first antennae. I tried nuuverous methods for demon- 

 strating the muscles by using various stains, fixing agents, and mounting 

 media. The most successful was to cut the animal in half sagittally, after 

 fixation with corrosive sublimate, stain in borax carmine, and mount in 

 glycerine jelly (Brady's solution). This shows the muscles of the trunk 

 clearly. 



I take this opportunity of thanking the British Association for the 

 use of their table at the Plymouth Laboratory, and Mr. Garstang and Dr. 

 Allen for their ever-ready help and suggestions. 



Coral Reefs of the Indian Regions. — Interim, Repm't of the Committee, 

 consisting of Mr. A. Sedgwick (Chairman), Mr. J. Graham Kerr, 

 Professor J. W. Judd, Mr. J. J. Lister, and Mr. S. F. Harmer, 

 appointed to investigate the Structure, Formation, and Ch'oivth of 

 the Coral Reefs of the Ind/ian Region. 



The Committee have received the following report from Mr. J. Stanley 

 Gardiner : — 



The expedition under my charge has been carrying out work during 

 the last eighteen months in the Laccadives, Maldives, and Ceylon. 



During the month of May 1899 I toured through the raised coral- 

 reef ai'eas of Ceylon and round the coast. In the north of the island 

 these form a succession of higher and higher raised reefs down to Dam- 

 bula, broken only by isolated flat-topped peaks of older rocks, on the sides 

 of which the successive elevations are sometimes clearly visible in hori- 

 zontal lines of wave action. It is only in the topography of the older, 

 often much dolomitised country that the previous existence of either 

 barrier or isolated reefs is indicated. The greater part is formed of a 

 mixed reef sand, and appears before elevation to have borne a consider- 

 able resemblance to the large mudflats round the islands of Viti Levu 

 and Vanua Levu, in the Fiji group. 



Round the coast of Ceylon, especially to the south, a recent elevation 

 of five to twenty feet was found in broad flats by the sea. These are 

 now invariably being washed away down to the low- tide level, at which 

 they persist, to a certain extent, as fringing reefs of varying breadth. 

 The greater part of the west and south coasts is devoid, however, of any 

 reef-growths, the shore being rocky or formed of fine siliceous sand. In 

 May 1899 the rocky shore near Bentota was seen to be covered with 



