338 MESSRS. MELViLL AKD STANDEE OK [June 18, 



distance, presents a very pretty pink appearance caused by large 

 quantities of dead specimens of Umbonium vestiarum Linn, having 

 been washed up there ; living specimens can be obtained in 

 any quantity and many varieties, by dredging in 3 to 6 fathoms 

 off the north of the creek. In Jask bay itself, the bottom 

 is a hard muddy sand and hardly worth dredging over, as, with 

 few exceptions, the same species found there can be collected 

 with less trouble at low tides on the small stretch of muddy 

 beach mentioned above. Four miles west of the point is Mason 

 Shoal, a coral patch of small extent : this has been well dredged 

 over and a good many things obtained, none however of any 

 interest. Conus quercinus and C tessellatus L., both the orange 

 and brown varieties, are plentiful here. The Government Sub- 

 marine cables between Karachi and Bushire land here, the 

 Telegraph Staff being accommodated in a large imposing looking 

 stone building. There are also barracks for about 200 ISTative 

 troops, these, like the Telegraph-building, having been built by the 

 Indian Government. At the present time there are about 40 

 British Indian soldiers stationed here under a Native Officer, to 

 protect the Telegraph Staff in case of a rising amongst any of the 

 surrounding tribes, which is always more or less imminent. The 

 Native village is small and insignificant, and there is little or no 

 trade, though the British Indian mail-steamers call once a fortnight 

 both on the upward and downward trip to the Gulf. 



In concluding the remarks about the Mekran Coast, it may 

 be said that the sea-bottom has not been anywhere dredged over 

 at a greater depth than 100 fathoms, and only in one or two places 

 beyond 50 fathoms, inside which the Government Submarine 

 Telegraph-cable is laid. The bottom is generally a stiff blue clay 

 or mud, with occasional patches of thin black mud, the former 

 yielding a very small return for the most careful dredging ; in 

 the soft black mud more specimens are generally obtained. 



On the cable itself there is, as a rule, very little shell-growth; when 

 it does occur, it is genei-ally when the line passes near rocky patches 

 or submerged reefs. A few specimens of Eostellaria curta Sowb. 

 have been dredged inside the 50-fathoms line, but as dead specimens 

 of this are plentiful all along the coast, is is probable that they 

 would be found in numbers at a greater depth. In some places 

 numbers of young Murex malabaricus Sm. have come up adhering 

 to the telegraph-cable, so that adult specimens of this species 

 mnst be plentiful in the neighbourhood. The only other large 

 species found is Murex ternispina, which seems to be common 

 from 3 to 50 fathoms. 



(C.) Gulf of Oman. 



Proceeding west from the Mekran Coast, the next locality to be 

 described is the Gulf of Oman, which may be said to lie within 

 the following limits, namely: on the south and east, a line drawn 

 from Jask to Muscat, and on the north one from Mussandam Id. 

 due east to the Persian coast. 



