22 CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



Mar., 1902. North covered with young oysters ; south has one bed of young and 



some of 3 years old. 

 April, 1903. Some oysters present in clusters on the sand, and singly adhering to 



rock. 

 Mar., 1904. Large quantities of 2 1 -year-old oysters on both banks. 



It is obvious, in looking over such a record as the above, that it is an incomplete 

 history, and that, in the absence of certain data, we are unable to re-construct a 

 perfect picture of the sequence of events. Still certain beds of oysters can be traced 

 in successive years as follows : 



No doubt the 5 and 6-year old oysters recorded in 1804 and 1805 were those fished 

 in 1806 ; and the spots of 3 to 4 years old found in- 1805 were those fished in 1808 

 and 1809. But it remains doubtful when the oysters fished in 1814 made their 

 appearance. Those fished in 1816 are very probably the young oysters noted in 

 1813 ; and it may be remarked that what may seem comparatively few when young, 

 and small, and closely packed, will, if they live and spread out, be sufficiently 

 numerous when large to form a respectable fishery. It may have been some of these 

 same oysters that formed the 7 -year old fishery of 1820. We have no data in regard 

 to the oysters fished in 1828 and in 1836, and after that comes a gap of 20 years 

 during which there are no records. During 1856 and 1857 oysters of all ages were 

 apparently found in abundance, although, in the absence of any history, it may be 

 permissible to doubt whether any were really 8 years old. It is also curious that the 

 older oysters found during these two years and the following one were not fished. In 

 November, 1858, a sample of 12,000 was lifted, and the oysters on the north bank, 

 then estimated at 4 to 4|- years old, were fished to the number of over 6,000,000. 

 The following year what were left on the north bank, amounting to under 800,000 

 oysters, were fished along with nearly 3,000,000 younger ones from the South-east 

 Modragam. The latter are referred to as 3 years old, but, judging from the high 

 price obtained, it seems unlikely that they were so young. 



Young oysters were found on the bank the following November, and again in 

 November. 1861 ; and in March, 1862, the prospects for a fishery the following year 

 were good. In November younger oysters were also seen " in millions," but in 1863 

 the oysters had " totally disappeared." This catastrophe occurred during the north- 

 east monsoon, so it was probably not due to any exceptional disturbance of the 

 ground, and from the remarks made by Twynam and Donnan in their Fishery 

 Inspection Report of November, 1863, to the effect that the appearance of the shells 

 brought up showed that they had been destroyed by some animals preying on them, 

 it is very probable that the loss of this bed of oysters was due to an incursion of 

 Rays. Sir W. Twynam thinks, however, that they were also injured by the heavy 

 floods of 1862-63. 



From this time there is a blank tdl 1875, when beds of 2-year-old oysters were 



