l82 



MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL. xiv, 



valued as food by the fisherfolk (Pattanavars, etc.) whose lads are 

 accustomed to collect it when rough weather cuts off the usual 

 supplies of sea fish. The mural serves largely to meet such an 

 emergency. It is seldom collected for sale. It lives buried an 

 inch or two below the surface layer of the sand; the boys who 

 collect it turn over the wet sand with their feet as each roller 

 spends its force and slips back into Ihe sea. 



The larger and more handsome Doiiax scortuiii is much less 

 common but its strong boldly sculptured purple tinted valves are 

 often to be picked upon sandy beaches. The sculpturing takes 

 the form of coarse concentric ridges upon valves roucjhly triangu- 

 lar in shape. The beak is angular and prominent, the fore end and 

 ventral margin rounded, with the hinder end folded and produced 



KiG. 4S. Donax scortuni. X i- 



sharply to a bold point. They run to 2^i inches in length, and are 

 among the most easily identified of our local bivalves. 



The Mesodcsmidac are represented by the little KakKAMATTI 

 {Mesodesma [Paphia] glabratum) common in the sands of the island 

 beaches near Pamban. It grows to a length of l]4 inch. The shell, 



Fn".. 49. KakUaiuiUti {Mcsodfsiiia <^]ahrain»t). Shell and hinge plate. 



