NO. 3 (1917) 



TL'TICORIN FISHING INDUSTRY 



69 



precise enough for the purpose of generalization. Any minor 

 errors there may be, will be consistent throughout the enquiry and 

 the relative accuracy of the figures will be nowise impaired thereby. 



In the main I shall use either the local Tamil names or else 

 their English equivalents when these can be employed without 

 danger of misapprehension. To prevent any possibility of confu- 

 sion, I append a list of the local vernacular names with the English 

 equivalents which I employ in the text and in the tables, together 

 with the scientific name for each species as used by Day in his 

 Fishes of British India (1889)—" Fauna of British India " series. 



During the four years the enquiry continued, October 1911 to 

 September 1915, the annual wholesale values of fish landed at 

 Tuticorin were respectively Rs. 40,256, Rs. 42,179, Rs. 49,053 and 

 Rs. 45,146 giving an average per annum of Rs. 44,158. 



Not to overload these notes with figures I shall, wherever 

 possible, work upon the average annual figures for this period 

 rather than analyse each year separately. 



Adopting this principle the average yearly weight and value of 

 the 36 most important fishes are as follows : — 



Names. 



Valai 



Sardines 



Jew-lishes 



Sea-perches ... 



Rock-cod 



Seer 



Sea-breams ... 



Sharks and Rays 



Red Mullet ... 



Anchovies 



(Gerridae) 



Horse-mackerel 



Whiting 



(Chorinemus) 



Bonito 



Cat-fish 



(Lactarius) ... 



(Otolithus) 



Grunter 



