464 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol XVI. 



are distinguished from the smaller species, such as M. vulgaris (Sch.) and its 

 many varieties, by the entire absence of any trace of hinge teeth, which the 

 latter possesses in a minute form. 



By far the most important pearl fisheries round the coasts of India are in 

 the Gulf of Manar, between Ceylon and Tuticorin, and they have been worked 

 for over 2,000 years. A most interesting and authentic description of these 

 fisheries appeared in the official publication of the Colombo Museum (known 

 as Spolia zeylanlca) in 1903 by the then Lieutenant-Governor, the Hon. E. im 

 Thurn, who visited the fishery camp in the spring of that year when the Ceylon 

 Government decided to allow the fishing to take place after an interval of 

 11 years. He even went so far as to personally inspect the oyster beds in a 

 diving dress, his experiences of which he fully describes. So many accounts of 

 the actual gathering of the shells by the divers have been published that I need 

 hardly go over the ground again. On the return of the fishing fleet after the 

 day's fishing the crews rush the baskets of oysters inside the Government 

 enclosure and there each " take " is divided into 3 heaps, of which Government 

 appropriate two, while the third is handed over to the fishermen as their 

 share. * 



By about 9 p.m. the officials have pretty accurately ascertained the day's 

 total, the Government share of which is then put up to auction at the tempor- 

 ary court-house to the number perhaps of millions for the one day's " take." 

 Prices vary curiously and inexplicably in a single night, perhaps as much as 

 Rs. 35 per thousand being given early in the evening, while later on no more 

 than Rs. 22 may be bid, and yet again later still higher prices may prevail. 



The washing of the pearls from the oysters is a most tedious, primitive and 

 disgusting process, as they are simply left to rot for a week and then the 

 larger pearls are sorted by hand from the seething, stinking mass. The 

 residue is then dried in the sun and subsequently winnowed and examined 

 until the smallest pearls have been picked out. The fishing goes on daily for 

 some two months, when Government proclaim it closed, and the whole camp 

 breaks up, leaving the jackals and other scavengers to take their share of the 

 leavings among the great mounds of fresh shells that have been added to the 

 accumulations of so many previous years, for these shells have not sufficient 

 marketable value for their mother-o'-pearl to be worth shipping to the 

 European markets. The Ceylon Government are now going fully into the 

 question of how this primitive, insanitary system of sorting out the pearls can 

 be improved. 



From a recent notice about the Ceylon pearl fishery, that appeared in tie 

 New York weekly paper " Forest and Stream," I extract the following further 

 particulars : — 



" A remarkable feature about them has always been their uncertainty and 

 intermittent character. For 50 years during the nineteenth century the banks 

 produced nothing, and from 1837 — 54, and again from 1864-73, no pearls were 

 collected. 



