1901.] MOLLUSCS FEOM: THE PERSIAN GULF. 337 



The little bay inside the large one, and near which the village 

 is situated, has a clean sandy bottom, and this from a depth of 

 2 to 5 fathoms has been carefully dredged over, with the result 

 that several new species have been discovered and added to the 

 List. From the sandy shore that has been examined, nothing has 

 been obtained, while the rocky point on the east corner of the bay 

 is rich in some forms, particularly cowries and cones — 10 species 

 of the former and 9 of the latter having been found here, the 

 names of which appear in the List. To the south of this point in 

 7 fathoms one drag was made, but the ground was too foul for the 

 dredge though otherwise good, the single drag resulting in examples 

 of two or more new species. We also dredged to the north-east of 

 the big bay off Tiz Valley, which is I believe the only place on the 

 coast that retains its original name, or at least the name it went under 

 when Alexander the Great passed along the Mekran Coast, leading 

 his army inland, the fleet accompanying off the coast. In Tiz Valley 

 itself are the ruins of what at one time must have been a city 

 of considerable size, the graves on the surrounding hills are very 

 numerous : I have dug up many of them hoping to find something 

 in the shape of seals or money that would help to identify the period 

 to which they belonged. Off this valley, in 5 fathoms, I have 

 dredged with no success, the bottom being coarse saud with overfalls 

 or loose boulders and stones. One peculiar thing will be noticed 

 on reference to the List, viz., that several of the species found at 

 Charbar have also been found at Muscat, and nowhere else ; and 

 this is the more remarkable as the two places are 150 miles apart, 

 the depth of water between them being in places as great as 1900 

 fathoms. 



Jasl; 165 miles west of Charbar, which may be considered the 

 western extreme of the Mekran Coast, or commencement of the 

 Gulf of Oman, has been fairly well exploited for shells, both on 

 the adjacent shores and by dredging, with moderate success. 

 Many of the Charbar species are repeated here, both places being 

 in many respects very similar in character. Charbar has, however, 

 the advantage in the number of species found. On the rocky 

 ledge off .Task Point, which dries at low tide, numbers of Oyprcea 

 arabica and C. turdus are to be found, and two or three common 

 cones such as O. tcmiatus and C. minimus, but very little else 

 except the common rock-creatures which are met with almost 

 everywhere. Between the rocky point and the clean sandy beach 

 forming Jask bay, where is the usual landing-place, the fore-shore 

 is, for about 200 yards, composed of dirty muddy sand, and it is 

 here that many of the creatures mentioned in the List are found, 

 amongst them being Beveral Bpecies new. On the clean sandy 

 beach, as at Charbar, nothing has been found. Three miles north 



of the landing-place is a small salt-water creek, the entrance to 

 which dries at very low tides, when mud-banks of considerable 

 extent are exposed s on these are found numbers of dead bivalves, 



as is the case a I the mouths of all the creeks on I lie Mekran < 'oast. 



At the mouth of the creek at high-water mark the beach, al a little 

 Pboo. Zooi. <■< . 1901, Vol. 11. No, AMI. 22 



