138 



MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL. XlV, 



is not planted in the sand as in the case of the chank ; the parent 

 carries it about till the young become free. 



The family of the OLIVES (Olividae) contains some of the com- 

 monest shells found on the East Coast ; they are rarely seen in 

 Malabar. They are notable for their high polish and the beauty 

 of their marbled colouring. Among themselves there is less differ- 

 ence in form than usual, the shape being roughly cylindrical, with 

 a very short spire and a long narrow aperture. The suture is 

 channelled and is in connexion with the hinder end of the mouth 

 aperture by a narrow slit in the lip. The columella is overlaid 

 with deposit and is striated obliquely ; no operculum is present. 



As in Natica, where the habit of life is similar, the shell is 

 partly immersed in the swollen foot ; the mantle lobes are also 

 large and meet over the back and so maintain the high polish of 

 the shell. A slender tactile filament is given off behind from the 

 mantle to pass through the posterior slit and lie when at rest in 

 the suture furrow. 



The Olives are very active; they burrow rapidly in wet sand 



in quest of the bivalves on which they 

 live, and it is said that they may even 

 be taken on a line baited with a fragment 

 of flesh. 



The common species is OHva gihbosa 

 (Tamil, kovaiiji in Palk Bay and Madras, 

 sangii at Pulicat). OHva ispidiila and An- 

 cillaria ci/ifiainonea are other less common 

 forms. On the Coromandel coast the 

 Olives are extensively used as food by 

 the Pattanavar or sea-fishermen caste. 

 On the Ramnad coast they have less 

 importance as a minor food item ; while 

 being utilized, chiefly by Valayans, in 

 the same way as other shellfish whenever 

 found, they are in some cases sought for 

 separately on account of the price the 

 shells fetch when sold to the shell-dealers in Rameswaram temple, 

 who give an anna per hundred for the shells. The chief collecting 

 season is at the times of spring tides during the fine weather 

 period from February to April. Towards the end of the ebb tide 



Fig. 24. Common Olive 

 {OHva gibbosa). X i. 



