No. I (191 7) EDIBLE MOLLUSCS II 



any representative specimens from different parts of India, Ceylon, 

 Burma, and the Persian Gulf, that any one in a position to help, may 

 be kind enough to send. No less than half a dozen shells should 

 be sent from each locality and these should comprise as great a 

 variety of form as possible. The typical or most common form 

 assumed in each locality, should be distinctively indicated, wherever 

 possible. 



This species of oyster under notice is very hardy and can 

 sustain considerable fluctuations in the salinity of the water it lives 

 in. Hence it thrives in nearly every estuary and backwater on both 

 the coasts of the Presidency ; only exceptionally, as on some rocks 

 situated near estuaries on the Malabar coast, does it form consider- 

 able deposits in the open sea, although odd individuals are often 

 met with wherever rocks occur upon the littoral. Young oysters of 

 this species are also often met with on shells in water up to 

 8 fathoms in depth, but these do not thrive and seldom survive to 

 maturity. 



Backwater oysters have considerable value to the poorer popula- 

 tion living in the neighbourhood ; the chief centres on the west 

 coast are the backwaters at Tellicherry and Beypore in Malabar, 

 Cochin and Azhikode in Cochin State and Vembanad backwater in 

 Travancore. On the east coast the backwaters at Cuddalore, 

 Covelong, Ennur and Pulicat are famed for the abundance of 

 their oyster beds, while further north there are extensive beds in 

 the deltas of the Kistna and Godavari and in the backwaters of 

 Vizagapatam and Ganjam. The oyster beds of Sonapur backwater 

 in Ganjam are the most extensive of these latter. 



Unfortunately the better classes of Indians do not appreciate 

 oysters and none will make use of this excellent food-supply. 

 Among Hindus, only the lower classes of shore dwellers eat 

 oysters, together with some Muhammadans and Indian Christians- 

 The only better class trade in oysters is that supplying the require- 

 ments of Europeans and Anglo-Indians in a few of the larger coast 

 towns, as Madras, Calicut, Cochin and Mangalore. Many of the 

 sources of supply are however under grave suspicion of possible 

 sewage contamination. Because of this and in order to provide a 

 supply of good quality oysters free from any danger of being 

 disease carriers, Government in 1910 permitted the Fisheries 

 Department to form a model oyster park in Pulicat Lake where 

 oysters are cultivated under hygienic conditions and thence 

 distributed throughout the length and breadth of the Presidency. 



