40 



The par is flat surfaced and in places discontinuous, varying from quartzose 

 limestone to compact and extremely hard, brown, and purely calcareous rock. The 

 loose fragments numerous iu certain localities are either of the latter character or are 

 masses of dead coral much tunnelled by boring molluscs and sponges. From the 

 absence of live coral ou these pars, I am of opinion that in commou with the loose 

 broken coral branches (" chullai or challai " as the Tamil divers term the latter) these 

 fragments are derived from inshore reefs, of which a long one stretches northwards, 

 parallel with the coast, from Tiruchendiir to Pinnacoil. 



May 7th was spent in making traverses over the two groups of pars lying south- 

 west of the Tolayiram Par — an inner, which we may term the Puli Pundu group, 

 and an outer, or Nenjurichehan group. The ground between and around was also 

 examined. 



Pcli Pundu Group. — This collection of small pars, comprising the Kanna Puli 

 Pundu Par, Puli Pundu Par, Saith Onpatu Par and Vada Onpatu Par lie close 

 together and agree in all essential characteristics, in the depth of water, which ranges 

 from 7f to 8| fathoms, in the identity shown by the organisms found there, and in 

 the physical nature of the rock forming the bottom. For the practical purposes of 

 inspection aud fishery they may be considered as a single unit. They agree exactly 

 in all particulars with the pars forming the Uti Par group, except that at the present 

 examination no pearl oysters were found. 



Nknjurichchan Group. — Yery different are the banks which I propose to unite 

 under the term Nenjuriehchan group. The constituent banks are the Par Kun- 

 danjan, Kenjurichchan and Mela Onpatu Pars with a depth ranging from 7f to 8^ 

 fathoms. These pars, although in almost the same depth of water as those of the 

 Puli Pundu group, bear a fauna more characteristic of deep water conditions, 

 Gorgonia miniacea, Sulerogorgia suberosa, with mrmerous examples of Jvncella jiuicea 

 being characteristic. As usual, on these banks massive sponges are numerous, mostly 

 dark coloured, and the rock, instead of being covered with ordinary sand, is sprinkled 

 freely with large foraminifera (Orbitoliies and Heterosiegina) ; the rock is flat in surface 

 and both in appearance and in fauna bears much resemblance to the seaward side of 

 the Ceylon Muttuvaratu Par. 



Both to the west, the east, and the south-east of this group we have a great 

 extent of sandy ground extremely rich in life, characterised by the presence of varied 

 forms of Alcyonarians. Conspicuous among these last are a rosy tinted aborescent 

 Pennatulid, a grey and drab Pennatula sp. and a slender Virgularia {V.juncea), the 

 first named anchored by a branching root-like base, the two latter by a long and 

 deeply embedded axis. 



Equally characteristic is a stout lamellar and fan-shaped dark green Alga which 

 passes below into a bulbous base embedded deeply in the sand ; the projecting fan- 

 shaped portion measures in many cases as much as 5 inches across ; the bulbous base 

 from 6 to 8 inches in length, stiffened by a large admixture of sand entangled among 

 the ramifying filaments of the Alga. 



That peculiar Ascidian, Rhabdocynthia rosea, is another characteristic organism. 



Small crustaceans, molluscs and burrowing worms are also noteworthy, with a 

 varying number of ehauks. 



After examining this region we proceeded N.N.W. from Par Kundanjan Par 

 which brought us to the region immediately south-west of the Tolayiram Par. Here 

 we found considerable quantities of small oysters lying in clusters upon sand ; the age 

 appeared to be from three to four months and, besides the living, a considerable quantity 

 of dead shells were found. A few of the latter showed signs of having been bored by 

 carnivorous Gastropods and others were broken, possibly by the bites of some fish. 

 This, however, is somewhat doubtful and the majority showed no apparent signs of 

 what the cause of death had been. 



The nuclei of the clusters were in the main the spicular Ascidian Rhabdocynthia 

 rosea ; in a few cases only was it a shell, a fragment of par or of dead coral. In many 

 a nucleus was absent, the little oysters clinging to the shells of one another. Every- 

 where there was a marked scarcity of " cultch " (shells and rock fragments). 



