1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 51 



the wide sub-marine plateau which fringes the whole extent of this 

 coast. This pearl bank plateau is widest in the south, in the 

 neighbourhood of Cape Comorin, gradually narrowing as we pro- 

 ceed northwards. In the south it shelves to the 100-fathom line at 

 an easy gradient, and everywhere the width of the plateau is con- 

 siderably greater than anywhere in the pearl bank region on the 

 Ceylon side. 



The pars, as these banks are termed locally, may be arranged in 

 three divisions — the Northern or Kilakarai, extending from Adam's 

 bridge to Vaippar ; the Central or Tuticorin, from Vaippar to the 

 latitude of Manappad ; and the Southern or Comorin from thence 

 southwards to Cape Comorin. 



The central division is by far the most important ; indeed so far 

 as recent historical evidence goes the banks of this division are 

 the only productive ones. 



Many are extremely small ; some have been described as having 

 an area little greater than that of an ordinary sized room, and as 

 they owe their separate entities to the detailed local knowledge of 

 fishermen engaged not in pearling but in ordinary fishing it will 

 conduce greatly to simplify the pearl bank management if, in future, 

 the majority of these separate banks instead of being listed indivi- 

 dually, be linked together into groups, the members of each group 

 occupying adjacent positions and having similar physical and 

 biological characteristics ; some have characters rendering them 

 entirely unsuited to the maturing of oysters and these may be 

 deleted eventually once and for all. 



The names of these banks arranged in order from north to south 

 and classified into groups consonant with their relative geogra- 

 phical position and with their identity of physical and biological 

 characteristics are as follows : — 



A. — Northern or Kilakarai Division. 



Composed of 



T „ , ^ f I. Pamban Karai Par. 



I. Pamban Group 1 



<• 2. Pamban Velangu Par. 



tt at it- r f 3- Musal Tivu Par. 



II. Musal Tivu Group ••• ) 



1 4- Solaka Karai Par. 



f 5. Kilakarai Vellai Malai. 



T1T „., , ■ r- J Velangu Par. 



III. Kilakarai Group... •••<! ,.„.,,,.„ . D , 



6. Vellai Malai Karai Par. 



(. 7. Anna Par. 



