INTRODUCTION 



When sending Part I. of tHese reports to the press, I hoped to be able to include in 

 the second part — ^that which is now sent forth — ^reports upon the whole of the remaining 

 portion of the collection made during my short visit of inspection to Okhamandal 

 in December 1905 and January 1906. Unfortunately the outbreak of the Great German 

 War has made this impossible, particularly in respect of the two most important of 

 the remaining reports — ^those on the Polychaeta and the Tunicata. Indeed, I am 

 doubtful if the report upon the Pplychaet collection wiU ever be available, as the latter 

 was in the hands of Professor Ehlers of Gottingen at the time war broke out. 



In these circumstances, I decided that as I had in hand a number of valuable 

 papers, including two long and important reports on the sponges, together with others 

 on the Hydroida, Medusae and Polyzoa, as well as a lengthy one on the Indian Conch 

 which has considerable economic importance on the shores of the Gulf of Kutch, it 

 would be better to. publish these at once, and relegate any further reports that may come 

 to hand at a future date either to a supplementary issue or contribute them to some 

 other Indian Zoological pubhcation. 



The remarkable faunistic richness of the Okhamandal coast is demonstrated most 

 emphatically by the wonderful variety of sponge, hydroid and polyzoon life catalogued 

 in the valuable papers contributed by Professor A. Dendy, F.K.S., and Miss Laura 

 R. Thornely. In this respect it must be remembered that the collections were made 

 single-handed in the face of many difl&culties and within the limited period of five 

 weeks, during which my attention was in the main directed to work of another nature, 

 faunistic collection being of subsidiary importance. 



The Government of His Highness the Maharaja Gaikwar have fain most generously 

 undertaken to defray the whole cost of production of the present volume, thereby 

 making the zoological world in general, and that of India in particular, their debtors 

 for this generous and liberal expenditure. 



That the work done during my inspection of the sea bottom around Okhamandal 

 has borne useful fruit is evidenced by (a) the estabhshment of a highly remunera- 

 tive Placuna pearl-fishery on the north-east coast, (6) the development of the 

 local chank-fishery, and (c) the appointment of fishery officers charged to organise 



