No. I (1917) EDIBLE MOLLUSCS 45 



wherever they do use it, such employment seems to spring either 

 from an acquired taste or to be due to the compulsion of poverty 

 directing attention to a cheap source of food supply. In China, 

 Japan, the Philippine Islands and generally throughout the Malay 

 Archipelago, the markets of all large seaboard towns abound daily 

 with many kinds of shellfish, and in numerous towns, such as 

 Manila, the labouring classes depend largely upon this source for 

 their daily food. It may be noted here that, so far as I know, there 

 are no poisonous species found on the Indian coasts ; all are edible 

 and when gastric troubles do occur it is due almost entirely either 

 to individual and abnormal susceptibility or intolerance, or, much 

 more frequently, to unsuitable methods of cooking whereby the food 

 is rendered tough and difficult of digestion. Light steaming is on 

 the whole the most digestible method of preparation for bivalves ; 

 they may either be eaten without further preparation or else stewed 

 for a prolonged time with appropriate flavourings. To those with 

 good digestion, they may be made into more high seasoned dishes, 

 such as curries, or fried or baked in butter or ghee (preferably) or 

 in vegetable oils. 



The Pearl Oyster (Margaritifera vulgaris). 

 TamW—Miitt/iii c/iifypi (G/^,i^ i^uiSl). 



Hitherto the local pearl oyster has been esteemed solely for the 

 pearls it occasionally produces. At a pearl fishery the feverish 

 eagerness of the search for these prizes is so intense that the food 

 value of the flesh is forgotten. This however is very considerable, 

 for it is both tender, well-flavoured and highly nutritious ; in these 

 (lualities it is about on a par with the Scallops (Pectinidas) of 

 Europe and may appropriately be cooked by the same methods. 



The shell grows to a sufficiently large size to accommodate a 

 body ample enough to repay a cook's attention. The size usually 

 attained is 75 millimetres in length by an equal depth from hinge 

 to ventral margin. The glandular tissues (gonads and digestive 

 glands) are greatly developed in healthy individuals and make the 

 flesh highly nutritious and tonic. Its food value may be considered 

 fully equal to that of the edible oyster ; it is however rather richer 

 in fat content and in the cooked condition sweeter and more like 

 in flavour to the scallop. It is most excellent whether scalloped, 

 stewed, baked, or curried, and in my opinion is the finest of Indian 

 shellfish. If ever a fish cannery be established on the shores of the 

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