248 CEYLON MARINE BIOLOGICAL REPORTS. 



concerned in these periods of blaxikness, and we should not bo surprised to find when the data comes to be 

 cai-efully examined that this is so. The data already to hand appears to pomt to this conclusion. 



yPo Ce^-lon the interest of the Tuticorin pearl banks lies in their being the area potentially supplying 

 spat to the Ceylon pearl l)a*iks. As such they merit attention, and it is to be hoped that succeeding 

 workers will have means of investigating these banks. With that information, and a knowledge of the 

 nature of the south-west monsoon for any particular year, it will be possible to predict with, a considerable 

 degree of certainty whether an exotic spatfall has occurred on the Ceylon banks before the inspection 

 has commenced. 



In conclusion, we would tender the grateful thanks of the Company to all who have helped in this 

 investigation by liberating drift bottles, and our special thanks are due to Captain Fj^sh and Captain 

 Dickinson for the interest, care, and trouble they took in the collection of the plankton over a period of 

 two and a half months. 



