4 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



B. — Species not utilised at present as food — cont. 



Species. English. Tamil. 



Barl)atia harbata Hairy ark-shell ... 



Parallelopipedum tortum ... 'I'wisted ark-shell. 



Solen sp. ... ... ... Razor-shell ... Pul akku. 



Potamides (Telescopium) fuscum. Horn-shell 



Potamides (Pyrazus) palustris ... Do. 



Melongena vespertilio ... ... Knobbed whelk ... ... 



Helix spp. ... ... ...\ 



Ariophanta spp. ... ... ... I 



Land snails 



MUSSELS (MYTILID^). 



Tamil — Kallikai (^wrerfliaruj) in the south; Pachchai ali {ua^eu^^ 

 ^sr^) at Pulicat. 



Malayalam — Kadiika and Kadnlkai in South Malabar; Kalliima-' 

 kai in North Malabar; Nilakdkka in Cochin. 



Kanarese — Pacile. 



Tulu (North Kanara) — AJeer. 



Two species only of true Mussels (Mytilidse) grow to a consi- 

 derable size in the waters of this Presidency. One of these is the 

 very handsome Green Mussel {Mytilus smaragdiniis Chem.), readily 

 recognized because of the handsome green coloration of the horny 

 membrane or periostracum investing the exterior surface of its 

 valves ; the other is an even larger species, less elegant in contour, 

 coated with a coarse brown periostracum that looks commonplace 

 when contrasted with the vivid tint of the green. The former 

 species is distributed widely upon the Madras coasts, extending as 

 it does almost continuously from South Kanara on the west coast 

 to the borders of Orissa on the east. The brown form, on the other 

 hand, is confined, so far as I am aware, to the extreme south of 

 Travancore and of the Tinnevelly district. 



No representatives of the closely related genus Modiola are 

 eaten, although several species are found, particularly in Palk Bay, 

 where the sea-bottom is frecjuently carpeted over hundreds of acres 

 with vast multitudes of Modiola harbata, M.japonica, and allied forms. 

 These seldom grow more than an inch in length and live generally 

 at a depth of three to five fathoms, hence their non-utilization as 

 food. Could they be cheaply collected in quantity, they would form 

 both an excellent food and, when dried and pulverized, a first-class 

 manure. 



