220 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



a load for six men. was recorded by Buchanan Hamilton (" Fish- Ganges") 

 from the Gangetic estuary. 



The deep-sea boats {i.e., the boats -which fish outside the shallow waters of 

 the littoral zone) secured daily, in March, 1886, large hauls of Engraulis mala- 

 baricus, Engraulis indicus {_" anchovy"), and Dussumieria acuta, known all along 

 the Malabar coast as the sardine. These fishes are salted and dried for food, 

 and the surplus is used for the extraction of fish-oil. Also brought in by the 

 deep-sea boats for sale in the fish bazaar, were the common Crustacea Neptunus 

 pelagicus, Neptunus sanguinolentus , TJialamita prymna, and Squilla nepa. 



During my stay at Cochin a journey was made by bac kwater to the mud- 

 bank of Narrakal, which, like that of Alleppy, affords smooth water anchorage 

 for big ships during the boisterous weather of the south-west monsoon. 

 The mode of formation of these mud-banks, which has given rise to much 

 speculation, has been most recently dealt with by Mr. P. Lake,* of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey of India, who states his opinion that " the Narrakal mud-bank is 

 very probably, to a large extent, formed of the silt carried down by the 

 Cranganore river. It does not appear to be very much affected by the rise of 

 the backwaters." 



The surface of the vast liquid mud-flats of the backwater between Cochin 

 and Narrakal, through which our boat was laboriously propelled, is covered 

 with a dense mass of a mollusc {Teleseopium fuscum), which produces a curious 

 appearance as of the spikes of the helmets of a submerged army. On the 

 sandy shore at Narrakal great quantities of the mollusc Dactylina orientalis 

 were being washed up by the in-flowing tide ; and the neighbouring muddy 

 shore was strewed with full-grown shells of the pearl-oyster, Avicula fucata. 

 \ These pearl-oyster shells were not worn, and must have been rolled in by the 

 sea from a bank at no great distance from the shore. Of the existence of such 

 a bank I can find no record ; but, in the event of the shells being recognised 

 hereafter, it would be worth while to have an inspection made on the chance of 

 discovering a bank which might yield material for a fishery on a small scale by 

 the Tuticorin divers. 



A single night's journey by British India coasting steamer brought me from 

 Cochin to Calicut, the chief town of the Malabar district. Landing was possi- 

 ble from a wherry at the sandy beach, on which except during the south-west 

 monsoon storms, the waves flow with a gentle ripple, affording a strong 

 contrast to the surf -beaten shore at Cochin. 



A cursory examination of " specimens " washed on shore showed at a glance 

 that the littoral fauna of Calicut differs in a very marked degree from that of 

 Cochin, and demonstrated the necessity of detailed examination of the entire 

 coast line, if any semblance of an approach to an accurate knowledge and 



* See Lake, Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., Vol, XXIII, 1890; and King, Bee. Geol. Surv. Ind., 

 Vol. XVII, 1884. 



