72 CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



( )n March 8th we obtained, hi addition to most of the above: 



Calanus vulgaris, Centropages oi-snu and C. kr^yeri, Labidocera acuta, Pseudo- 

 diaptomus serricaudata, Acartia erythrcea, Calanopia elliptica and C minor. 



On March 9th the sea-temperature at 7 A.M. was 7'J'8 F. and at 5 P.M. was 

 80"1 F., and the specific gravity was a shade under I "023. 



In the morning we worked with the divers over the south part of the region 

 between the East and West Chevals. The oysters found here were mostly small 

 ((i months old), growing in clumps or attached to the large valves of Pinna 

 bicolov, which is very abundant here partly imbedded in the sand (tig. 18) there 

 are probably about 3 or 4 to the square yard. A shoal extends from this point 

 (about the shoal buoy or south centre of Cheval Paar) southwards to the northern 

 end of Karativo Island some 10 miles awav. There is a tradition amoner the divers 





X 





Fig. 18. Large specimen of Pinna covered in 

 its upper part with young pearl oysters and 

 in the lower part with tags of byssus, indi- 

 cating where oysters had been attached. 



. . y 



Fig. lit. Sketch-chart showing the shoal extending 

 northwards from Karativo Island to the Cheval 

 Paar. 



that in former days Queen x\lliyaka.sam, an Amazonian princess who ruled the Tamils 

 in the northern part of Ceylon and personally superintended her pearl fisheries, used 

 to sit on the north end of the long island of Karativo and watch the divers at work 

 on the Cheval Paar. Karativo is now out of sight of the Cheval and there is no 



