Report No. 6 of 1921. 



THE COMMON MOLLl'SCS OF 

 SOUTH INDIA 



BY 

 JAMES HORNELL, F.L.S., F.R.A.I., 



Dircclor of Fisheries^ Madras, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Till a few years ago the study of zoology in Indian colleges 

 was greatly handicapped by difficulties attendant upon the supply 

 of specimens of representative types of the various groups com- 

 prised in the fauna of our seas. To a large extent students relied 

 upon a study of text-book figures and had no familiarity whatever 

 with the animals themselves. In the rare cases where more 

 thorough work was done, either attention was concentrated upon 

 land and fresh-water types as more readily procurable, or limited 

 supplies of material were obtained at a heavy cost of money and 

 time, from European Biological Stations. The fact that zoological 

 study was hopelessly fettered for want of supplies that lay abun- 

 dant to hand, in our waters and on our shores and among the 

 coral reefs of the Gulf of Mannar, so impressed me at an early 

 Jate in my fishery work in the Madras Presidency that I decided 

 to make an effort to diminish the disability, and so to render 

 zoological study more attractive and profitable to students with a 

 bent in that direction. It happened at that time that my fishery 

 duties involved extensive dredging over faunistically rich bottom 

 in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay ; the riches of extensive coral 

 reefs were also available. Day after day far more material was 

 brought aboard the inspection vessel by the dredge and my divers 

 than was required for my own work and the rest had to be dumped 

 overboard and wasted. In 1915, I sought and obtained the per- 

 mission of the Government of Madras, to begin the supply of 

 zoological specimens to educational institutions throughout India, 

 at rates calculated just to cover the cost of preparation. Apprecia- 

 tion of this work was immediate and far beyond my expectations. 

 The work has now developed so largely that a special statf is 



