116 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
Tj[E MOL LUSK A OF THE GULF OF PARIA. 
^ By B. J. Lechmere Guppy. 
The Gulf of Paria is a large landlocked sheet of water lying 
een the island of Trinidad and the continent of South 
E * s °' era hundred miles in extent from east to 
an about fifty miles from north to south. To the north it 
W Sep;lrilted from the Caribean Sea by the high and long 
!T n , 0, 1 < t n' y ° f Pana and cori nected with it by narrow passages 
1 u ,° CaS del 1)ra S° ” or Dragon’s Mouths, commonly called 
cally the Bocas.” To the south the Gulf is hemmed in by 
- elta or the Orinoco. That delta is intersected by several 
into tl ^ tlK ' ldV61 ' and some these discharge themselves 
it™' ! " h0S6 l6VeI dm ' ing the season is sensibly raised 
im 61 S C ll5C0 . ° Ured anrl ita saltness greatly diminished by the 
this seas ‘ 1Uaatlty ° f fresh wa ter thus poured into it. During 
flowing t°'!) \ mpi<1 C,lrrenfc runs out through the Bocas. The 
to check this cmt ’ while 
given by the admixture of * ***' Th&pa]e br0Wnish ^ 
Grenada and Toba«o ■ . * ater ls Perceptible as far as 
season there is a, ° t0 nmety miles °«t. In the dry 
even then the f fW ° f the tide through the Bocas but 
a d £r "r *■ n “ h ii '“ •"« «•»>■ t » 
U.OH noIo l^r:"a e "!" d ° f “•> «» «. - 
necting the Gulf 0 f P • ° alled the Ser P ent ’ s Mouth con- 
° ° f Pana the Atlantic Ocean. 
land andt eontm!T' th *?“ Parian Ean S e on the main ‘ 
of Trinidad, abut on ^ ^ ^ * S ^ an( ^ n orthern mountains 
general low and the^v f* the shores of the Gulf are in 
a yard is only attained 01 * ee ^ ei ^ 8 80 gradually that the depth of 
depths unknown i<* i f m ^ e ®hore and the bottom to 
0 a so ^t an d yielding mud. In some 
