NO. 6 (I92I) COMMON MOLLUSCS OF SOUTH INDIA 



207 



taken in the casting net {vichchu valai) and in drift nets and shore 

 seines. Their bones are, however, thrown up in large quantities on 

 the southern and south-western shores of Palk Bay during the 

 north-east monsoon, and at this period of the year, numbers of 

 Kadayan women scour the littoral in their search. After long 

 continued northerly winds, the supply is often very abundant, 

 particularly during February and March, and a woman can collect 

 several hundreds in a day. These are eventually sold to agents of 

 Kilakarai, Devakkottai and Pamban merchants, who tour the coast 

 to buy up the stocks available. A gunnybag full of cuttle bone of 

 all sizes fetches frcm As. 10 to Re. 1-4-O; sometimes they are 



Fig. 6o. Common Indian Calilefish (Sepia). 



sold by number and size, the price varying from two to eight annas 

 per ICO ; a common price is one pie (one-twelfth anna) for large bones 

 and two or three per pie for small ones, A regular price cannot be 

 said to exist ; rates vary with the needs of the seller and of the 

 purchaser. 



On the south coast of Rameswaram and other islands near 

 Pamban cuttle bones come ashcre during the south-west monsoon 



