94 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



extensively with spat four times, one of which resulted in the 

 fisheries of 1889 and 1890. 



The particulars of these are — 



1863. " Some young oysters." (It would appear that the 

 numbers could not have been large. Suran was 

 noted as present the same year.) 

 1874. "Some young oysters on Kutadiar Par with Suran." 

 1878. "Thickly stocked with oysters of one year age." 

 1881. " Some oysters of one year." 



1884. The inspection summary reads " Plenty of oysters of 

 one year age; clean and healthy." These oysters 

 survived and furnished the two successive fisheries 

 of 1889 and 1890, at which a total of 14,407,293 

 oysters were fished. 

 1904. Since 1890 only one spat-fall has been recorded — that 

 found during the present year's examination. 

 The bank was not examined in the spring of 1861, nor in 1862, 

 1864, 1868, 1870, 1874, l8 93 and 1900. 



From the above we observe that out of a total of 44 years, i860- - 

 1904, there have been five recorded spat-falls on this bank with the 

 probability of a sixth in 1874, when this bank was not examined 

 although the adjoining Kutadiar Par bore young. 



The bank brought one lot of these— that of 1884 — to maturity 

 and from what I can see the prospects of a fishery resulting from 

 the present population of )Oimg oysters are good if they survive 

 till next spring. By that time they will be too large to suffer much 

 from the depredations of oyster-eating fish (Trigger-fishes and 

 Vellamin). They .will then be more robust and better fitted to 

 endure the discomforts and danger of starvation, which are the 

 concomitants of the disturbed water conditions during the stormy 

 period of the year. 



Comparing the history of the Periya Par, we find that in 26 

 years ending 1904, this bank was restocked at least twelve times 

 without yielding a fishery. We know also that one fishery, that of 

 1879, is the only one yielded by this bank during the past century 

 (7,645,901 oysters realizing Rs. 95,694). 



So while the Ceylon bank is infinitely more fertile in the number 

 of times it is replenished with oyster spat, its Indian counterpart 

 has greater reliability ; six times do we know that it has brought 

 its oysters to fishing maturity, namely, in 1784, 1787, 1807, 1810, 

 1822 and 1889-1890, and very probably a third time as well, for the 



