No. I (1917) EDIBLE MOLLUSCS ^ 



rice dough and steamed in a most ingenious and effective manner; 

 a cooking vessel is half filled with water, a cloth is tied over the 

 mouth, the stuffed mussels are laid on the cloth, and then another 

 earthen vessel is inverted over the mouth of the first and the whole 

 placed over a fire till it be judged the steaming is complete. Of 

 the three methods described this last appears to be the most 

 satisfactory ; the frying method is probably the worst for people 

 with poor digestion though it is doubtless the most tasty. Mussels 

 are often furnished in coast toddy shops to customers who find 

 them a good relish. 



There is some question as to whether the demand for mussels on 

 the Malabar coast is sufficiently great as to outstrip supply ; a 

 satisfactory method of cultivation whereby the supply could be 

 largely increased and cheapened might be of much value to the 

 coastal population. The exposed nature of the coast during the 

 south-west monsoon would however render such an undertaking 

 exceedingly difficult except at a prohibitive cost. Demand would 

 probably be greater if the methods employed to cook them were 

 more appropriate. Some of those employed, notably frying in oil, 

 are likely to make them indigestible. 



When the subject of framing regulations for the protection of 

 immature fish throughout this Presidency becomes ripe for treatment, 

 the question of the desirability of imposing a minimum size limit 

 for mussels should also be included, as there is evidence that 

 in some localities collection is occasionally so intensive as to reduce 

 the average marketed size to objectionably small dimensions. 



On the East Coast, the green mussel is comparatively rare ; 

 nowhere is it found in thickly stocked beds as in Malabar and 

 Kanara. Yet almost everywhere along the coast occasional strag- 

 glers are found and in several estuarine backwaters where beds of 

 the edible oyster (6>. virginiaini) occur, they become comparatively 

 numerous. In the Government Oyster Farm in Pulicat Lake, about 

 a couple of score can usually be collected in a day by one man from 

 among the oyster clumps. At Pulicat where they are known as 

 Pachchai dli or green oysters, they are occasionally utilized by 

 Pariahs who eat the flesh cooked with curry-stuffs. 



In the Sonapur backwater in Ganjam district this mussel is fairly 

 abundant, considerably more so than at Pulicat. As in the latter 

 locality, its habitat is on the oyster patches in the deeper parts of 

 the backwater. Particularly numerous is it in the deep main 



