25« CEYLON MARINE BIOLOGICAL RKPORTS. 



scattered to be charted as paar groimd. This scattered coral debris, togetlier with the occurrence of 

 beds of Piimas, forms cultch on which oyster beds have frequently occurred and matured ; but the 

 oysters, although large, are knoAm to be very poor pearl producers, incident on the aliallow water on 

 vhich they occur, i.e., 4, 3i, and 3 fathoms, and the absence of infecting parasites. 



TJie Mttttuvaratu Paar comes next to the Cheval in productiveness. The Multavaratu Paar starts 

 north of the northern extremity of Karativu island, on the edge of the overfalls, and extends south as 

 far as Bar reef. Starting at the north, where the paar narro\vs to a point on the edge of the overfalls, 

 it broadens south, and approaclies Karativu island to within a naile of the beach. It tlien runs roughly 

 Boutli-south-west until the Bar reef is reached. The west is bounded by the overfalls. This extensive 

 rockj' area includes— starting from the north — Karativu, Alan turai, and Krusadai Paars, also Hamilton's 

 Muttuvaratu and Donnan's ]Muttuvar.atu, tlie whole being one continuous rocky area covering approxi- 

 mately 28 square miles. This vast stretch of rocky area represents about 25 square miles of potential 

 paar ground, the paars above named being those on which oysters have matured and been fished. 



The bottom is flat rock, on which quantities of massive Pontes grow, the ruins of which lie scattered 

 ov»r the whole area, forming excellent cultch. Isolated growths of Turhinaria crater and brain coral 

 also occur in great quantities, but the Madrepore ground is practically useless for oyster culture, and 

 represents 3 square miles. 



To the south, just north of, and in the vicinity of the Bar reef, beds of Madrepore occur, which 

 cover considerable areas. The feature of the paar north of the Bar reef is the absence of Madrepore 

 and the large size and massive growth of Porites, which occur in groups and rise on their own ruins to 

 3 and 4 feet above the bottom, and is described by native divers as "peaky rock." These massive 

 growths of Porites make dredging and trawling operations impossible over this area. 



With the Porites and other massive coral growths , such as brain coral, Galaxia, and Mussa, quanti- 

 ties of Foraminifera and Halimeda occur, together vnth. a great variety of weed other than the latter. 



The depth of water on the inshore or east side of the paar averages 5 fathoms, which deepens 

 gradually as the overfalls are reached to 9 fathoms, which is found on the edge of the overfalls, which 

 here are very precipitate. The Muttuvaratu Paar ends the list of the historically productive jiaars. 

 We now come to the great — 



Periya Paar. — This paar is situated on the edge of the overfalls from the 9-fathom j)lateau to 

 the 14- to 20-fathom plateau, distant 18 miles from the land. A succession of plateaus occur off the coast 

 at this point, i.e., due west and north of KeUar obehsk, starting with a 2-fathom plateau, with, a fall 

 to the 4- and 5-fathom plateau, on which the Kondatchi Paar occurs, then again to 6 and 7 fathoms, 

 on which the Cheval Paar is situated. After this we get a shght depression to 9 and 10 fathoms, 

 which decreases to 8 and 9 fathoms respectively as the Periya Paar isa'eached. The Periya Paar 

 lies on the edge of the fall from what may be termed the Cheval plateau , which gradually deepens from 

 6 and 7 to 8 and 9 fathoms until the overfall is reached to the 14- and 20-fathom plateau, which latter 

 finally ends at the overfalls proper, where we get a precipitate fall to 100 fathoms or tuore. 



The slight depression noted between the Cheval and the Periya Paar resembles the depression or 

 valley noted on the plateau off the south coast by Captain Somerville, R.N., in " Spolia Zeylanica," 

 Vol. v., Part III., April, 1908. 



The average depth of water over the paar is 9 fathoms, deepening rapidly on the west to 

 14 fathoms. The paar on the south is about 2 miles broad, 11 miles in length, and tapers on the 

 north to a fine point. The paar takes the trend of the overfalls on which it occurs, which here run in a 

 north-west by north direction. The northern extremity of the paar approaches, as is noted elsewhere, 

 to within 2 miles of the true Vankah Paar. 



The paar is represented by a rocky edge, on which Uving coral occurs on the north, but which has 

 died out on the south, where there is a httle less depth of water, i.e., 7| to 8 fathoms. It was on the 

 southern part that a bed of oysters matured which were fished in 1879, and this is the only fishery 

 recorded on this paar. The importance of the paar is solely due to the frequent and almost seasonal 

 occurrences of large spatfalls ; but only on the above occasion have oysters matured here. 



