274 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1892. 



at higli-water. There is no trace of vegetation on any of these tiny 

 islets, the largest of which, that at the northern extremity, is aboat 

 200 yards long and about 50 yards across, its highest point not 

 being more than 7 feet above high-water. The lagoon within this 

 reef carries from 3 to 3i fathoms at its deepest portion, shallowiugto 

 the reef all round . 



This reef is apparently not included in Lieut. Wood's list ; * his 

 No. 10 ( Tatacum) may indeed refer either to this or to Pirmalla, but 

 cannot include both, and probably indicates the latter. If, however, 

 this should be what is meaut by his Tatacum, then the statement that 

 it produces coco -nuts made to him at Auderut, is incorrect. Im- 

 mediately to the south of CherbanianiinLon. 71°50'E.aildLat. 11° 50' 

 N. lies the Cheriapani reef (Shereah of Wood's list), called also the 

 Byramgore reef, owing to the wreck there in 1827 of a Bombay 

 vessel of that name. This is shown in the charts as completely 

 submerged at high-water, but from what Mr. Hume was able to 

 ascertain at Ameni regarding it, this appears to have several 

 islets like those on the Cherbaniani reef. The statement of the 

 islanders of Anderut to Lieut. Wood, that it produces coco-nuts and 

 is visited on that account, is doubtless incorrect ; if visited at all 

 it must be for birds' eggs, or for the purpose of fishing in the lagoon. 

 South-east of the Byramgore reef in Lon. 72° lO'E. and Lat. 

 1 1°30'N. lies Bitrapar, visited by Mr. Hume in 1875. Mr. Robin- 

 son had already given an account of the island.! This reef forms 

 alarge very regular oval 7 to 8 miles long and 4 to 5 miles across at the 

 widest part. The island of Bitra, which is the only part of the 

 atoll above high-water mark, occupies the north-east corner, and 

 is about half-a-mile long and a quarter of a mile across, being- 

 no where more than 9 or 10 feet above high- water level. The lagoon 

 is shallow at the north end and along the western side, but carries 

 elsewhere 3 to 6 fathoms. The island itself is not, like the islets on 



* " Journ. Eoy. Geogr. Soc.,'' vol. vi., p. 39. 



t Mr. Hume speaks inadvertently (" Stray Feathers," iv., p. 435) of Mr. Robinson 

 having visited this island. Mr. Robinson says ("Madras Journ.," xiv., p. 27) that 

 he was unable to visit it himself, though he obtained all the particulars he could 

 concerning it. Mr. Hume's own account is, therefore, the first description of the 

 island that has been made fi-om personal observation. 



