370 



A Pica for Hirer Fisheries. 



Chut. xxv. 



Molluscs. 



105. But fishes are not the only food contained in the rivers. 

 There are tons and tons of molluscs which are 

 collected with great ease by the women and 

 children. The}' are not to be despised in this 

 country while similar articles of food are prized 

 in England and France. There is a growing 

 demand in England for limpets and peri- 

 winkles, from 150 to 250 bushels of peri- 

 winkles being sold in a day in London alone. 

 A farm for the artificial propagation and sale 

 of edible mussels has been worked for seven 

 centuries in France, and it must have been 

 profitable or it would scarcely be in existence. 

 But whether these shell-fish can be artificially 

 propagated, or in any way protected at certain 

 periods, with advantage, is a matter yet to be 

 ascertained. The Velorita, which is the most 

 numerous, and the most substantial eating, and 



is eaten also in Japan, has no byssus wherewith to attach itself; 



and the mark on one side shows that it lies on the mud with one 



edge upwards. The method followed for propagating oysters and 



mussels would therefore seem inapplicable. 



Ci/cJatt. 



Cerithium ; two of 

 the species. 

 Nerita. 



Corbicula ; one of 

 the species found 

 within ti.lal inllu- 



si , and two others 



in the fresh water. 



l'< Inntii ctfprinoi" 

 des (Gray), of the 

 Family Ct/n nidce. 



I' a in. 



XAmnea stagndUs. 



Ampullaria cflau- 

 ca L. 



Planorbis Tndicus. 



„ Coroman- 

 delimt. 



Paludina Bengal 

 ensis. 



Practical Water- 

 farming, by William 

 Peard, M.D., L.L.B., 

 pages 239, 211. 



The Preservation of en in Mini. 



106. The possible utilization of sun-dried mud for suspending 

 the progress of incubation in ova in tropical climes, was proposed 

 in my last report. It is a Bubject, the investigation of which would 

 have been particularly interesting to me; hut it lias nut been fairly 

 within the scope of the experiments sanctioned by Government. 

 The process could only be tested by collecting fecundated ova, and 

 batching them Bide by -side with Other exactly similar eggs that had 

 been enclosed for varying periods and in various ways in mud; 

 and as the propagation of fish by an artificial process was expressly 

 excluded from the experiments sanctioned, the amount of time and 

 attention thai would have been required for the collection and 

 treatment of ova could not be withdrawn from other subjects, 



