Account of the 'PearlFijhery in the Gulph of Mamr. ^j, 



two bluifli fpots, which feem to be the eyes. In a pretty deep holewnear the 1>afc pf (he- 

 tongue, lies the beard (iyjpis), faflcned by two flefhy roots, and confifting of almoft one 

 hundred fibres, each an inch long, of a dark green colour, with a metallic luftre j they are 

 undivided, parallel, and flattened. In general the byjfus is more than three quarters of an 

 inch, without the cleft (rima) ; but if the animal is dilturbed, it contradts it confiderably. 

 The top of each of thefe threads terminates in a circular gland or head, like ihtjlygma of 

 many plants. With this by/fus they fallen themfelves to rocks, corals, and other folid bo- 

 dies ; by it the young pearl filh cling to the old ones, and with it the animal procures its 

 food, by extending and contradting it at pleafure. Small fliell fifli, on which they partly 

 live, are often found clinging to the former. The ftomach lies clofe to the root of the 

 beard, and has, on its lower fide, a protrafted obtufe point. Above the ftomach are two 

 fmall red bodies, like lungs; and from the ftomach goes a long channel or gut, which 

 takes a circuit round the mufcular column above-mentioned, and ends in the anus, which 

 lies oppofite to the mouth, and is covered with a fmall thin leaf, like a flap. Though the 

 natives pretend to diftinguifli the fexes, by the appearance of the fhell, I could not find any 

 genitalia. The large flat ones they call males, and thofe that are thick, concave, and 

 vaulted, they call females, ox pedoo-chippy s but, on a clofe infpeftion, I could not obferve 

 any vlfible fcxual difference. 



It is remarkable that fome of thefe animals are as red as blood, and that the infide of the 

 fhell has the fame colour, with the ufual pearly luftre, though my fervants found a reddifli 

 pearl in an oyfter of this colour ; yet fuch an event is very rare. The divers attribute this 

 rednefs to the ficknefs of the pearl filh ; though it is moft probable that they had it from 

 their firft exiftence. In the fhade they will live twenty-four hours after being taken out of 

 the water. This animal is eaten by the lower clafs of Indians, either frefti in their curries, 

 or cured by drying; in which ftate they are exported to the coaft; though I do not think 

 them by any means palatable. 



Within a mother of pearl fhell I found thirteen murices nudati (vide Chemnitz's New 

 Syftem, Cabt. vol. XI. tab. 192, f. 1851 and 1852), the largeft of which was three quar- 

 ters of an Inch long ; but as many of them were putrid, and the pearl fifti itfelf dead, I 

 could not afcertain whether they had crept in as enemies, or were drawn in by the animal 

 itfelf. At any rate turtles and crabs are inimical to the animals, and a fmall living crab 

 was found in one of them. 



The pearls are only in the fofter part of the animal, and never In that firm mufcular cO" 

 lumn above-mentioned. We find them in general near the earth, and on both fides of the 

 mouth. The natives entertain the fame foolifti opinion concerning the formation of the 

 pearl which the ancients did. They fuppofe them formed from dew-drops In connection 

 with fun-beams. A Brahmen informed me that it was recorded in one of his Sanfcrit 

 hooks, that the pearls are formed in the month of May at the appearance of the Sooaiee ftar 

 (one of their twenty-feyen conftellations) when the oyfters come up to the furface of the 



Vol. IV. — April 1800. E water, 



