Jan. i, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
481 
the group, its fertilisiag properties have now been 
discovered, and in many islands baskets of it are 
collected aud strewn over the garden land. The 
Cipture of two specimens of snakes on pandanus trees 
at ttnlule was of interest. 
The whole faro is 4| miles long by 1 J broad; its 
lagoonlet or velu, in the centre has a depth of 6 to 7 
fathoms. The reef everywhere is awash at low tide, 
and, though differing greatly in its characters, quite 
well defined on the side towards the lagoon of the 
large atoll. Besides numerous rocks there are two 
islands respectively at the north aud south ends, 
Farukolufuri and Hulule. During our stay every part 
of the faro was surveyed, and the fauna carefully 
collected for comparison with that of Minikoi atoll. 
Asijmraetron was very abundant in certain places in 
and around the velu, and at least three species of 
Enteropneusts of two or three genera were found, each 
in its own characteristic environment. Two speci- 
mens of a remarkable Thalaasema, 2 feet long when 
alive, were secured from the boulder zone, besides a 
number of specimens of similar species. The sand 
was remarkably rich in Actinians of any species, all 
of which withdrew into the shelter of the sand at 
every rn.in-squill. Mollusca were not numerous, but 
Crypfoplax, Chiton, and each of the three families of 
the Zygobranchiata were represented ; autotomy of 
the foot seems to be a widespread phenomenon as 
several forms with the foot thus cut off were ob- 
tained 
We returned to Male in the middle of Feb- 
ruary. Mr. Forster Cooper at once sailed for 
his dredging cruise in the atoll, while I re- 
mained to carry on a series of observations 
on the currents in the channels on each side of the 
island. During my whole stay I dispensed medical 
aid freely to the people. At this time there was in one 
district of Male an epidemic of Malaria, with which 
I was naturally much brought into contact. Mr 
Forster Cooper returned to find that I had caught 
the infection. I saw, however, our collections to date 
properly packed for England, and the schooner 
victualled and equipped. As complications set in and 
I was getting worse instead of better, Mr Forster 
Cooper on February 28th took advantage of the 
chance visit of a British India Steamship Oo.'s 
steamer to place me in charge of Capt. Pigott, 
R.N.R.*. for Colombo. He himself determined 
to carry out his part of the projected work, and 
sailed from Male on March 3rd for the southern 
atolls 
I cannot speak too highly of the pluck, deter- 
mination and resource, shown by Mr Forster Cooper 
who had had no previous experience of the topics. 
He worked his native crew in a manner, which I have 
never seen excelled even in the Pacific, aud took 
0 less than 83 dredgings in five different atolls, 
owever, I append Mr Forster Cooper's report. 
Inch may be allowed to speak for itself. 
" On March 3rd, accompanied by Mahommed 
Didi as interpreter and representative of the Sultan, 
1 crossed over to S Male, in which three days 
were spent. Gurahdu island and reef were visited, 
but neither land nor reef in the atoll appeared to 
exhibit any novel features. The group consisting of 
a series of almost isolated reefs, I dredged prin- 
cipally in the outer passages and in the centre to 
ascertain the differences in the bottom-fauna. 
The hauls in the centre was very unproductive, 
bat in the channels a large quantity of 
the same sessile forms, as in the northern atolls, 
was bro nght up. Just inside the northern 
passage a coral, Oonioporo stokesi, was obtained; it 
forms round heads on thick stalks, covered b any 
epitheca, which is completely buried in the sand or mud. 
" On March 6th we sailed on to Felidn atoll, where 
we visited Alimata and Tinadu islands alone, at 
night anchoring generally to the nearest reef. We 
* I cannot sufficiently express my indebtedness to 
this gentleman for all hia ^iudnega to me, 
§1 
remained eight days, but only took 18 hauls of the 
dreda;9s owing to head winds, strong current across 
the atoll and dead calms. Indeed throughout the 
whole cruise the unfavourable winds aud the poor 
sailing qualities of the schooner prevented us from 
surveying as much of the atolls aud from taking as 
many dredgings, as I would have liked. Wo attorapted 
for three successive days to get up the almo'it com- 
pletely enclosed eastern horn of the atoll, but were 
unable to tack up more than half-way. The lagoon 
in it is open with few reefs or shoal's, aud has a general 
depth of 40 fathoms ; its bottom ia hard, covered with 
sand, and absolutely unproductive to the dredge. In 
the rest of the atoll weed and broken shells 
were found towards the centre of the lagoon 
and rubble in the channels. Diaseri^ is very 
common almost everywhere and its skeleton forms one 
of the chief ojnstituents of the rubble. 
" We fetched Mulaku atoll on March 14th, and 
remained six days, taking 17 dredgings. The atoll is 
remarkable for the boad, almost continuous reef ; 
along its eastern side. There are a number of very 
narrow, shallow passages to the north, but from 
Maduveri to Curaille a distance of 30 miles, the reef 
is continuous safe for a single passage opposite 
Mulaku island. All the islands lie on the seaward 
side of this reef ; extending down its centre is a series 
of long, linear velu (small lagoons), which off Eai- 
mandu is double, two series lying parallel to one 
another aud the edges of the reef. In dredging I ran 
two lines across the lagoon and then moved down along 
the eastern side. Among other forms we collected a 
large number of soft-bodied echinoida, a few black 
crinoids and some holothuriaus, with whicli were 
associated a number of Polyehaeta, crabs, earths and 
molluscs. All were of the same ground shades as their 
various Eohinodermata, whose colour was, as it were, 
photographed upon them. 
" Kolumadulu atoll was entered on March 21st, but 
no work could be done from the schooner owing to 
the calm weather until the 26th inst. I meantime 
took the small boat out, and made various scattered 
dredgings in the north-east corner of the atoll with 
but indiilerent success, while I sent the collecting 
boys to Kolufuri to obtain the land fauna an I flora. 
I did not personally visit any of the islands in this 
atoll nor Haldumati, which we next dredged, as they 
all appeared to me to present the same features as in 
the northern groups. 1 was also anxious, as these 
two atolls are almost completely encircled by reefs, 
to ascertain precisely the characters of the bottom in 
every part. I sailed finally right across the centre of 
Kolumadulu lagoon, taking 16 dredgings down to 45 
fathoms and incidentally running the vessel ashore 
on a small reef, off which we warped her without any 
great difficulry. The centre was found to be covered 
with fine mud, on which a few Crustacea, molluscs 
and flat-fish of small size alone appeared to exist. 
We obtained also a larval form of Fierasfer out of a 
holothurian from 25 fathoms. 
" In Haddamati atoll I took 16 dredginsrs in the 
centre and eastern part of the lagoon, where the 
bottom was mostly covered with fine mud. They 
were very unproductive owing doubtless to the all 
but continuous reef of the eastern side. Relatively 
little work could be accomplished, as the schooner 
was in a horribly dirty state with bilge, etc. ; she 
also had been somewhat strined on the reef, and her 
bottom was thickly covered with barnacles and weed 
" To summarise, the cruise yielded between March 
3rd and April 8th 88 dredgings in every part of the 
lagoons of five different atolls. The hauls must have 
averaged at least one mile each, and hence 8S miles 
of the bottom was covered. The latter was found to 
be of an almost uniform dead-level between the reefs 
and shoals, which, arising precipitously, uniformly 
reach to within a few feet of the surface, It was to 
moat remarkable that we did not meet with a singly 
